The Prophecy was Wrong
by Shinobi Saru Corp
Summary: Evangeline Smith has been offered a quest to figure out a problem about mortals getting into Camp Half-blood. Evan demands money before going on the quest. Also Evan has asked for 2 more people to join her on the quest, when there are already 3 people going. If adding two more people to the quest who aren't apart of the prophecy, will that mean Rachael Dare's prophecy is wrong?
1. Chapter 1

**Written by Tora**

* * *

Author's note (dictated by Evangeline to Jonathan Smith)

Okay, so this is my story. I had this adventure and I suffered the sufferings of this adventure, physically and mentally.

For starters, I should have gone to someone who would have written my story the way I wanted it to be. Next of all, I shouldn't have been born with dyslexia. That way I could write my OWN story, the way I wanted it to be written.

Tora is a good person, but seriously, she reminds me a bit of Rita Skeeter from Harry Potter, you know the woman who twists every bit of news she gets in her clutches. Tora isn't THAT bad, but she wanted me to add a bunch of flashy stuff. And because she was the writer, she kept pressuring me with advice. Tone down the violence; tone down the swearing, that did not happen, why don't you write this instead of that, etc.! Well heck, when you're fighting monsters, YOU try not to be violent! It's not like we wanted to be violent! And for the swearing, well when you're dealing with super natural causes all the time and when all bad things pretty much comes out from the pits of Tartarus itself, YOU try not to swear!

My dad is writing this author's note for me, because I know he's writing everything I'm actually saying, and isn't trying to make me say something else.

So I just wanted to write an author's note to let you readers realize that some of the stuff in here didn't happen. Pretty much of all it is true, but _some_ ofit is wrong, because Tora didn't like what I wanted her to write down. I mean, Tora thinks that I made this stuff up. I tried to prove to her that I wasn't making this stuff up. I showed Tora the Percy Jackson and the Olympian books, story by Percy Jackson, written by Rick Riordan. But she thought those stories were made up too. Now to make it worse, she thinks my story is fan fiction!

Well guess what? THIS IS NOT FAN FICTION! THIS IS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO ME!

**DEAL WITH IT!**

Ms. Rita (AKA Tora) is such a control freak!

* * *

Tora's note (written by Tora)

Evangeline is really nice. She's sweet and has this GREAT imagination. But sometimes I think her imagination is TOO great. I know that the greatest people with the best imaginations are crazy and brilliant, but she's got the wrong kind of brilliance.

Maybe one day, when her dyslexia is better, she can write all that wacky stuff in another book. Maybe she'll call it: Evangeline in Wonderland. I mean, Alice in Wonderland is amazingly crazy and weird and brilliant, so if Evangeline were to write sometime like that! BOOM! It'd be great, you know what I mean? Or am I not making a lot of sense?

Anyway, my point is, Evangeline's story that she wanted me to write is a little TOO weird. I mean come on; she told me she would fire me if I didn't write what she wanted me to write! HA! I wrote what she asked me to write of course, but I managed to do a little manipulating. She seemed to seriously believe that everything she told me was real. Hellhounds, shadow traveling, gods, demigods, etc. Can you believe her? Most of the time while I was writing the story, I was laughing hysterically. She kept giving me these creepy glares.

After we were done with the book, she wanted me to PUBLISH it! I had to hold her back and tell her no way! That would be illegal! She said that she talked to Percy and he said to her it would be fine if she wanted to publish the book.

I told her she wasn't going to be able to publish it. She kept saying that Percy told her it was fine. I finally told her that PERCY JACKSON WAS NOT REAL. RICK RIORDAN MADE HIM UP! Therefore, Mr. Riordan WOULD NOT BE OKAY with her publishing a copycat book! Sheesh, don't you agree with me? Percy is a fictional character!

Ugh, I finally managed to persuade Evangeline to post her silly story on a fan fiction site. Online she showed me a dozen more fan fictions stories about half-bloods. I told her those people were just making cutesy stories up, just like her.

For such an imagination, she really is quite stupid.

Tora R.

* * *

Chapter 1 I meet a non-potty trained monster and Sora from Kingdom Hearts

Being alone in a field of nothingness, in twilight, isn't what I call my favourite thing to do. On the contrary, my favourite thing to do is to read on a rainy afternoon, but that was totally irrelevant, and didn't make a lot of sense to my point.

My point is that granddad told me to have a blast at camp what? I took out a little business card that my granddad had given to me a while back.

_HALF-BLOOD HILL.  
Long Island, New York _

In the first place, what sort of idiotic person wants to go to a camp called "camp half-blood"? It sounds like morbid camp with emo vampires. And why was my granddad sending me to this camp and telling me to have fun and make friends? I used to want to go to camps before, but every time I asked if I could go, granddad said it would be too dangerous. Said I might get kicked out because I would do something wrong. Dad always stopped granddad before he told me why I'd get kicked out. I'd pester granddad with questions about not being able to go to camp (while my dad wasn't around to stop him from telling me why) and he would just smile at me and told me I was too pretty to be taken away from him.

I think it's time for a bit of introduction.

I was born to Jonathan Smith and to some lady I have never met. I don't even know her name. Dad won't talk about mom, either he's too mad about my mom going away or he's too sad about it.

Granddad would tell me wild and cheesy tales why dad and mom got separated. "Jonathan was like Romeo and your mother was like Juliet!" he would say, in his rocking chair that squeaked constantly when you rocked in it. Or he'd say, "There was a secret love between them! They said they'd never love each other, but secretly they loved one another more than gold!" Or his favourite cheesy chick flick, "They were two spies sent out to kill one another! But when they met they fell in love… and, um, didn't kill each other."

The truth was: Dad was a grad from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and mom was a grad from Harvard University. They met somehow and fell in love. After having me, there was some kind of debate on whether I'd go to MIT or Harvard. Of course, they never thought about asking me which I'd rather go to (MIT, for sure). Dad, by then was working on a doctorate degree, did not want me to go to a snobs school. Mom had her heart set on me going to Harvard and getting an engineering degree. They got so mad apparently, that they broke up. If you ask me, that story is as stupid as granddad's chick flick stories.

My name is Evangeline Smith. I live with my granddad and dad (dad's mostly not around, and even when he is, he's locked up in his room studying) in Cambridge Massachusetts.

All I ever do is listen to my granddad tell stories of 'back in the day', chick flick stories of mom and dad, and stories on how granddad met George Washington? Oh yes, another I also pray quite a bit that my dad will get married to a nice woman and settle down.

Why do I wish dad would get married? Well, for an easy starter, it's hard to be brought up by guys. Sure, granddad is always around for me. He'll cook me a hot meal or do my laundry for me. But because he doesn't understand the mind of a girl… he doesn't exactly know what to do with me when I get emotional.

And of course, last of all, I crave attention. Granddad will give me attention, but it's more like a: pat-me-on-the-head-and-say-good-girl-attention. That's not the attention I crave. I crave three different kinds of attention. The attention from a mother and father, the attention that I will never get, the kind of attention when you're a kid and your mother and father are always ooing and cooing over you, and last, the attention by grownups. The kind that makes them oooo and ahhh when you've done something smart or brilliant. Take an example: I quitted going to school when I was ten. I stayed home and schooled myself on my dad's books. When I came up with something smart or clever, my dad would take me to MIT and tell me to show his students what I had learned. I'm always hoping for some good oooing and ahhing at MIT. Of course, by the end of my lecture, the students would ask questions and make comments that I could never answer. In conclusion, my brilliant ideas were no longer brilliant. My wonderful attention that I wanted: gone.

After a while, students in my dad's classroom finally decided that I was this spastic fourteen year old girl, who lectured profusely like an old terrible math teacher. Hey, for one thing, I'm fifteen years old. Next, I don't lecture that long. My 'lectures' only take about ten minutes. It's their questions that take forever.

Time to stop the introduction. Time to tell what's really happening. Right now, right here.

I was standing and facing a field of nothingness. An old house could also be seen off in the distance. A faint smell of strawberries blew in the wind. When granddad had dropped me off here, and told me to have a good time, he also told me to run. Don't stop running and don't look behind me.

Like an idiot, I didn't run.

I just stood there.

By now, Granddad's car was out of site and I was all alone. I couldn't believe my granddad was letting me go to a summer camp. I should have been rejoicing, but I was suspicious. When granddad was packing for me, I had asked him why I was going to a camp all the sudden. He told me it was for my safety. Um, okay. Wouldn't home be the safest place for me?

So, being independent and brave, I _leisurely_ walked up the slope. I didn't think about running, until I heard a strange clopping noise behind me. It couldn't have been a horse, because from the sound of it, it sounded as if it only had two feet.

This was seriously creeping me out. Especially at twilight.

I began nervously walking a little bit faster. I didn't dare look behind me.

I was now entering into a wooded area. The tall dark trees made me even more nervous as I started to sprint a little. But have you ever sprinted while dragging two suitcases? It's not as easy as you think it is. The books in my suitcase were giving me bad luck. I felt as if one of my suitcases was getting heavier and heavier from the books.

Not cool. Not cool. Actually, on the contrary, it was rather warm. Warmer than it should be in New York. Maybe global warming was starting. Not that I cared or anything.

The clopping of whatever was still following me. Maybe this wood was cursed. Cursed with… hooved ghosts.

I now broke into a furious run. Or… at least what I thought fast, with two suitcases.

The clopping was getting closer and closer, until—WHUMP!

Before I knew it, the monster had knocked me down with a giant sword and was now standing over me laughing like a mad science and—okay, maybe the sword thing and the laughing part didn't happen. But someone was standing over me, this huge silhouette with a battle ax in his hand and! Actually, I tripped over a root and fell face down, so I didn't know what was looming over me.

My face was burning and I could taste blood from my cut lip. Not only was my face burning, my knees and my left ankle were also burning in pain. A white hot searing pain bit my left ankle. I gave a small whimper of discomfort.

I tried to scramble away from the thing looming over me, but all I managed was to squirm a little, probably looking like a helpless sea turtle out of water.

"Yo, chill out, half-blood!" said a voice above me. His voice sounded irresponsible and too much like he was trying to sound cool and failing at it.

What did he call me? Half-blood?

I held still. Tasting more and more blood in my dry mouth, I decided to go with a special method called: hold still and act nice and maybe you'll live a little longer. I began with the holding still part, which wasn't hard to do, since I seemed to have sprang my ankle. And then I acted the part of being nice.

"So, um, uh, are ou tauking goo me?" I said. I sounded pretty pathetic.

"Uh…" came a dull reply. "How about you sit up and have some ambrosia…"

Ambrosia? What the heck was ambrosia? Poison? Wait… ambrosia… that was the food of the gods in Greek mythology. Maybe he had made some food that tasted so good he called it the food of the gods.

I sat up, slowly and painfully.

I gave a good look around. It was growing dark. But not dark enough to notice the person who was standing over me.

I gave a scream. And blacked out.

I vaguely remember someone stuffing something in my mouth. It tasted like my granddad's homemade burned batch of peanut brittle. It tasted good and reminded me of granddad measuring out the peanut butter, while telling me stories of the Civil War. I blacked out again.

BONK!

"Ow!" I cried indignantly.

Someone was holding my arm and dragging me face down. My head had hit a tree stump. I was being pulled away probably to the terrible creature's layer! I probably was already poisoned!

"Did you poison me with strychnine? Or was it arsenic?! Or maybe—"

"Look, will you just shut up?! My job it hard enough; I totally flopped at watching over you! What is the council going to say about that?! You can stand up! Stop making me drag you! We're almost to camp!" Snarled the figure.

I took a good look at the figure. I could make out most of what he looked like. He had a red St. Lewis Cardinal baseball cap, an orange shirt that said Camp Half-Blood on it (his shirt was way too big for him), and absolutely no pants. Instead he had shaggy blond hindquarters. The creepiest thing about him was that he had no feet. He had hooves.

I tried not to scream again. Or faint. I didn't want to be dragged by this creepy demon to his creepy place.

"Ewww, what are you? Are you half horse?" I said. I didn't mean it to sound so rude; it just came out sounding rude.

This _thing_ looked super offended. He opened his mouth and closed it several times and then said, "Ugh, for your information, lady, I am a satyr. Also, also! I'm a highly trained satyr!"

"You mean you don't chew up furniture and you're potty trained?"

"No!" He cried in a high indignant voice.

"Whoa, you're not potty trained?" I said, widening my eyes.

The satyr began doing this weird dance. It involved him stamping his feet in a rhythmic way, and pulling out his blond hair.

"RAAAR!" Cried a bloodthirsty voice from behind the tree, as a figure jumped out.

The satyr and I screamed like little girls. Well, I was a little girl, but the satyr screaming like a little girl? Not a pretty sight, man, not a pretty sight. Actually, it was kind of hilarious. If I wasn't scared out of my pants, it would have been really hilarious to see the satyr scream like a girl.

The satyr quickly took out something shiny and bronze looking. A knife? Or a sword?

"Not afffraid! Stand back!" Squealed the satyr.

The figure began to laugh hysterically. "Hahaha! I got you Ben! I got you!" Said the voice.

From what I heard of the voice, this boy sounded like he spent way too much of his time pranking people and his voice was happy. Carefree, but not all together innocent and sweet.

"Dude!" Said Ben, who I guess was the half horse guy or satyr. Ben wheezed, and shouted, "Sora! You're not supposed to be out of camp! This is the third time! You are in big trouble, man! You're going straight to Chiron! I'm going to tell him how bad you've been, scaring me and an innocent half-blood girl! I thought you were a hellhound!"

There was a moment of silence, as I figured there were two pairs of eyes fixed on me.

From what I could tell, it was seriously getting dark, this boy who scared us, was dark headed and a little taller than Ben and I.

"Your name is Sora?" I said absentmindedly.

The boy bowed elaborately, or at least I think it was an elaborate bow, and said, "Son of the Winged Messenger!"

"He means Hermes," Said Ben blandly, as if he was used to this flamboyant attitude.

"Sora…" I said slowly.

"Yeah?" He said slowly and cautiously back, as if he was afraid I was going to prank him back.

"Sora… from Kingdom Hearts?"

"What?" He said strangely, as if I had randomly socked him with a tazar.

"Shut up, half-blood!" Scolded Ben.

"She's a _half-blood_?" Asked Sora curiously.

"Duh, idiot! Do you really thing I'd go without my pants in front of a mortal?!" Screamed Ben at the top of his lungs.

"Wow, so who's your godly parent? What's your name?" Questioned Sora.

"Her name is!" Ben paused, because he obviously remembered that he never asked himself what my name was.

"Evangeline Smith," I said mournfully. I was tired. And everything coming to my ears was turning to mush. Who was my godly parent? This was a weird day.

"Can I call you—" Started Sora slowly.

"Yes, you can call me, Evan, or Eve, or Eva, or E, blah, blah, blah!" I snarled. I wasn't feeling all that great.

Where were my suitcases? I began to panic.

"So, Evan, who do you think your godly parent is?" Asked Sora kindly. Or at least what he probably thought sounded kind, but to my ears, he sounded as if he was only being kind because he had this big gag up his sleeve and was waiting for a good time to take it out.

I wasn't listening. I began to look around frantically.

"Don't freak, Evan," Said Ben calmly. He carried a blank face. He obviously knew I was freaking out about the suitcases, because I couldn't have carried them while he was dragging me. The two suitcases were close to Ben. I wondered how he'd manage to drag me to this camp, while lugging two suitcases, one of them holding a five pound dictionary and a math textbook. This was one tuff half horse guy.

Wait, he told me he was a potty trained satyr, well, I asked if he was potty trained, but he told me he actually wasn't. Satyrs were also from Greek myths. They were half goat. Not half horse. Half horse people were called centaur.

"Are you dyslexic?" Questioned Sora.

Oh my gosh, obviously he hadn't been taught that asking to many questions is considered rude. What a stupid boy.

"No, I can spell just fine," I snapped. I was still trying to figuring out how Ben lugged the suitcases while he was dragging me.

"Spell dyslexic!" Demanded Sora.

"No!" I snarled back.

"Spell it!" Sora said.

"NO!" I half screamed. My temper was now flaring above one hundred and seventy degrees.

Sora seemed to pick up how angry I was, because he said in an alarmed voice, "Wow, she's hot."

"Uh, is that a compliment?" Said Ben slowly.

"Um, no. Not really…" Mumbled Sora.

I had it. I began to stomp furiously away from the freaks. It was very dark by now, and I hadn't had a meal yet. I was starving. It had to be at least nine thirty or so. I was cold, even though it was warm outside, and I felt like crying. I missed my granddad's stupid stories. And I missed my dad, even though I rarely saw him. I at least knew he was in the house with me and granddad, and that feeling was nice, even if mom wasn't there. It meant I had half a family. Half attention.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Said Ben, going after me. "Don't go! We gotta get you to camp, Evan!"

"NO! I'm not going! I'm going home!" I snarled.

"Have fun with the monster," murmured Sora.

I thought about stopping to say something snarky to him, if it wasn't the fact that I ran into a tree. And nearly blacked out again.

I remember leaning against the goat dude, he didn't smell all that great by the way, and trying to walk. I walk maybe for about ten minutes, before I nearly collapsed. The smelly un-potty trained goat supported me even more, and Sora said something like, "Come on, Evan, one step at a time. Almost there."

At the end, I had my arms around Sora and Ben's neck, as they practically dragged me to camp. I was really losing consciousness.

We walked passed something that looked like a dragon. It would have scared me, if I wasn't about to pass out. There was a huge pine tree and a golden something at the bottom of the tree.

What woke me up was something screeching and hooting. Something clawed my face and screamed at me.

"Hey!" I moaned. I looked up irritated to see this huge great horned owl.

"Whoa! It's an owl!" Shouted Sora.

A bunch of other kids came flaking out of nowhere. A bunch of kids my age, younger, and older.

"Gaah! What the heck!" I said half asleep. "This isn't Hogwarts, you stupid owl!"

The owl must have understood me, because it scratched even harder at my face and head. The great horned owl tore at my face. I felt more blood trickling down my cheek. I was growing madder and madder. Everyone was just standing there staring at me getting attacked by a demon owl.

"Getoffme!" I snarled at the owl.

"Well, well… it would appear that we have a daughter of Athena here," said an irritating voice. The voice sounded slightly tipsy and angry. Like the person was having a bad day and his head was full of pollution.

Someone finally managed to grab the owl and drag it away from my face.

I took a good look around. I was defiantly wide awake now. Yes, it was dark, but my eyes had grown accustomed to the dark. Not to mention, there were some lights around. The porch light of a farmhouse, a fire off in the distance, and maybe just one or two lanterns here and there.

There were more goat people around at this camp.

I had it.

I fainted. For the second time in the night.

The last thing I heard was someone saying, "Hail, daughter of Athena."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 I get cozy with my new life

I woke up in a bed. It was bunk bed and I was on the bottom bunk. The bed smelled of old dusty books. It smelled wonderful… like my dad's study back at home… back in Massachusetts. I buried my face in the pillow and inhaled the smell of books.

"Moring, sister!" Said a cheery voice.

Huh?

Did I have a sister that I didn't know about? But why would I have a twin sister? Maybe she lived with my mom. But why would dad not tell me about my twin sister? Families tell stuff to each other. Why would dad hide the fact that I had a twin sister?

I rolled over on my back to see a girl about my age.

She looked happy and cheery, but she also looked like she could take down an army with just a sword and her brain. She had stormy gray eyes that pierced through my soul and bouncy honey blond hair. This girl looked pretty athletic and strong. She looked… like me.

Look, I just gave you a pretty good description about me. Yeah, I could pull of as looking athletic, but I stink at sports. I don't even know the first rule of football. Oh, yeah. Her hair was curly, yes, and so is mine, but my hair is like her hair on steroids. Some girls that I knew at school once told me they wished they had my 'lovely' hair. If only they knew how I felt about my hair.

When _you _have hair so thick it's like three inches thick, and each curl is independent from each other, when it's so thick; you can't even brush it, and when it's so bouncy, you're afraid of it'll bounce off your head, _you _try and enjoy the hair.

"Uh, are you my twin sister?" I said stupidly.

She raised her eyebrow high. She grabbed my shirt and dragged me upright, so that I was level with her.

"Look," she snarled. Her breath didn't smell all that fresh. "You may look like a child of Athena and you may pretend to be one, but if you aren't one, you better get out of camp, or we'll all be on you like a pack of wild raccoons on a trash bag. Understand?"

It was my turn to raise my eyebrow. "Athena? Like the Greek goddess Athena?"

This girl was about to punch me, when a boy shouted, "Hey! Taya! Leave the new girl alone!"

I looked over to see a boy with dark blond hair and gray blue eyes. He also looked cunning and very serious looking.

"Oh, Malcolm," Said Taya innocently, as she let go of my shirt. "I was just waking her up!"

"No," Said Malcolm, wagging a finger at Taya. "No, you weren't. You were checking to see if she was a mortal or a half-blood."

"There's a quicker way to find out. Malcolm, lend me your sword," Said Taya eagerly pointing to a sword (in its sheath of course) that was hanging from Malcolm's hips.

Malcolm's eyes widened and he gripped the handle of the sword tight. "No, you got your own sword confiscated when you tried slicing up Mallory."

Taya looked frustrated and stamped her feet. "That was about a month ago! I'm supposed to have a sword with me all the times!" Snarled Taya.

"Shut up, Taytay!" Snapped Malcolm.

Then Malcolm turned to me. "Sorry 'bout that. I'm Malcolm. Deputy of Athena's cabin," he said kindly.

I nodded curtly and said, "I'm Evangeline. I guess… I guess I'm in mom's cabin. I didn't know mom and dad had this many children."

I looked around, just now taking a proper look at my surrounding. There were simple white curtains hanging up here and there, and a work table with books and scrolls. The table had a cool computer, and on that computer you could design awesome architecture things. While you were building it, and a 3D version of it would grow on the table. I didn't know how I knew all that; I just sort of understood how it worked and what it did.

There were beds lined up on the walls, with kids in the beds sound asleep, but there was one wall that was dedicated to books and scrolls. The room had some of the words most high tech and gizmos. This room was like being in Tony Stark's home, but not near as cool, of course.

"See," said Malcolm to Taya. "She's a daughter of Athena. She's clueless and stupid."

I ignored that comment.

"So," I said, trying to not look at Taya. "If you're the deputy, who's the head of mom's cabin?"

Malcolm and Taya looked at each other. Taya shifted her feet, and Malcolm looked uneasily at me, as if I was about to attack him.

"She fell into Tartarus…" said some sleepy guy in a bunk.

I figured that person was talking in his sleep.

I chuckled and said, "No, seriously, where is she? Who is she?"

"No, seriously, she fell into Tartarus with her boyfriend Percy," said Taya lowly.

I looked at them. Wasn't Tartarus the lowest part of the underworld, in Greek mythology, where the evilest people were imprisoned? Or was Tartarus just black tar stuff that they fell into and died?

"Look," said Malcolm slowly. "It's a long story, and—"

A horn blew off in the distance. It was loud and clear.

Malcolm paused and then shouted out, "Hey! Wake up, people! Breakfast time! Last person in the line gets to help the Demeter kids clean up the pegasus stable!"

All the sudden, kids with blond hair and the same serious look at Taya and Malcolm came clambering out of their beds. They were shoving and shouting at one another.

I watch them all get inline, Malcolm in the front, followed by Taya.

After they were all lined up, they all started to laugh at me. Then I realized. I was so caught up in watching them line up; I hadn't bothered lining up myself.

Blushing, I quickly queued up, at the end of the line…

We began marching out, and I took a good look around.

The area was mostly woods. There were twelve cabins big cabins, and some smaller cabins off in distant.

The twelve cabins were arranged in a big U shape, the two biggest ones at the base, and five on either side. Each cabin had a big brass number above the door, the even numbers were on the right and the odd were on the left.

My eye caught on cabin seven. It looked like it was made from pure gold. I looked at the cabin, with hungry eyes, and I figured I had about two seconds to tear my eyes away from it, before I ended up trying to steal the cabin.

My eye then caught a cabin that looked really boring. Rather, my eye wasn't caught by it, since it was so boring, I just happened to look at it. The brown painting was peeling and it looked worn down, like it could collapse at any moment. The brass number said: 11.

I saw a bunch of campers coming out from that cabin. To my surprise, I saw Sora emerge from that cabin.

In day light, he looked twice as mischievous as in the night. He was, I guess, an Asian kiddo, with big brown almond shaped eyes, a slight golden tan, and a crop of fluffy untidy black hair.

He caught my eye and gave me a wry mischievous grin.

Moron.

How'd he know what I looked like? Maybe it was the lights in the camp last night. Or maybe it was my hair that gave it away.

In return, I stuck my tongue out at him. I wasn't going to forgive him for scaring the wee out of me last night.

I quickly turned to the girl in front of me. She was taller than me, and more muscular. I said to her, "Hey, who's the headmaster of Athena's cabin?"

She turned around and looked down at me. "What?" She said slowly. "Headmaster?"

I nodded and said, "Yeah, you know, like Dumbledore was the headmaster of Hogwarts, and—did I tell you I got attacked by a demon owl?"

The girl's eyes went wide, "Whoa, you seem pretty ADD. Are you ADHD? Or dyslexic?"

What was with these stupid questions?! Are you dyslexic, what godly parent do you have, are you ADHD, spell this, spell that! I was sick of stupid questions. I used to love answer questions like what was my favourite colour, what did I want to be when I grew up, what do I like to do, but these questions were weird and stupid and pointless.

"Hey!" I said, going angry. "Kingdom Hearts boy asked me the same thing! What's with the questions?!"

She looked startled and then apologized, not about the questions, but about how stupid I seemed to be.

Fuming, I stomped after my group.

I finally saw where we were going to. An outdoor picnic area, with Grecian columns on a big hill overlooking the blue foaming sea.

People began to sit down at the picnic tables.

"I'm going to sit over there," I said pointing at the table where Sora sat.

The girl in front of me looked where I was pointing and said, "Do you know him?"

"Yeah, and I'm going to give him a piece of my mind," I said, starting to walk over where he was sitting.

The girl quickly grabbed my shirt, and dragged me back into the line. "No, we aren't allowed to sit with the Hermes children!"

I raised my eyebrow. I wondered if Hermes cabin and mom's cabin didn't get along well.

I paused and then pointed to another table.

The table that I pointed to was filled with giggling girls and boys. All of the girls had a perfect makeup jobs, and all of the boys had perfect hair a job. They all looked nice, and they were giggling in such a nice carefree way.

"Then I'm going to sit over there," I said, my finger still indicating to the table with giggling kids.

The girl looked alarmed, and grabbed my wrist. "No! We're not allowed to sit with other children who aren't our half-sister or brother! Come on! Our table is six!"

Annoyed, I allowed myself to be dragged to table six.

We passed table eleven, and I gave Sora an evil eye.

He looked at me and then paused for a fraction of a second, and then gave me a sparkly charming smile.

I was about ready to break free from the girl who was dragging me, give Sora piece of my mind, call him some nasty names, give him a good punch, and maybe stick his head down the garbage disposal.

"Enjoying camp, Evan?" He mused quietly.

"I'd enjoy it better if you weren't there," I replied airily.

"All the way back to you, Evan!" said Sora silkily.

I was about to reply with a nasty name, but the girl pulled me harder, and forced me to sit at the bench of table six.

The table already had food, and I wondered if it was magic. I couldn't see a kitchen anywhere. Maybe this place really was like Hogwarts. American Hogwarts.

I began to pile fried eggs and fruit onto my plate. I took a hunk of cheese and a hunk of bread as well.

I was starving.

"Does this place have ambrosia?" I said, stuffing cheese into my mouth.

"Uh, no?" Said the girl next to me.

"Oh, okay, just wondering…" I mumbled, swallowing the cheese

"Ignore her. She's new," said Taya, who was also sitting next to me.

I was about to plaster honey onto my bread, when everyone got up, taking their food away with them. Where were they going? Trying to get away from me?

"C'mon!" Said Malcolm. "We have to give offerings to the gods!"

Okay, this was seriously weird. So far, I had been playing along. Hermes, Athena, satyrs, etc. Things couldn't get any weirder. I just thought this whole thing was a camp about Greek gods and Greek-geeky-history-stuff. I thought our personality was the key to what cabin we stayed in.

"I'm very sorry that I am late, Campers, I was talking to Mr. D," Said a kind voice.

I looked up to see who was talking.

My eyes went wide and my mouth dropped down several inches.

In front of me, was a half horse guy…I am serious, he was half horse. He was a centaur I think. He had thin hair, and a brown beard, but from his waist down, he was a white stallion.

He looked at me a smiled.

The person next to him was equally impressive. In a disgusting way. He was this pudgy red face guy, with brown greasy hair and a leopard print shirt. He was wearing shorts and flip-flops. He glared at me as if I had belched without saying excuse me. I didn't like this dude.

"Campers," Said the half horse guy. "We have a new camper."

Everyone paused from eating to look at the centaur.

"Most of you already know, but for those who don't, our new camper is Maybelline Schmitt, daughter of Athena," Said the fat ugly guy. He pointed a pudgy finger at me.

I grew red in the face. I was not named after a makeup brand!

The centaur cleared his throat, and the ugly guy rolled his eyes irritably. "Evangeline Smith!" He corrected himself.

A bunch of kids clapped while staring at me.

A girl stood up from the table of giggling girls and boys and walked quickly towards me.

I caught my breath, because she was seriously beautiful. I don't think in a million years, I could ever be that pretty.

She had big dark blue eyes and long shiny black hair. She had too much makeup on, in my opinion, but she made it look good. She even had a Band-Aid on her cheek, but she made it look stylish. That was something I could never do.

"Hi! I'm Mallory Colman!" She said, giving me a dazzling movie star smile.

"Sit back down, Mal!" Said a couple campers.

Mallory blushed and said, "I'll talk to you later!"

"Uh, yeah," I said stupidly.

Taya pointed to the black haired girl and whispered to me, "Mallory is a bit strange. When she first came to camp, she wasn't really greeted warmly. And so, because Mallory wasn't treated warmly here, she thinks it's her duty to make people feel at home so they don't get left out. Ever since the accident with the mortals, campers haven't been really friendly with new campers."

I listened carefully. What was going on?

"What do you mean?" I muttered quietly.

"I'll tell you after we burn offerings," replied Taya.

Taya led me to this big bonfire, where a bunch of campers were lined up. Each camper tossed a bit of food into the fire and mumbling some mumbo-jumbo.

After Taya said something, she threw in a half fried egg.

Next was my turn. I stood there, looking stupid. After I mumbled _expelliarums _and _bibbidi bobbidi boo_, I threw a half chewed hunk of bread into the fire. Trying not to smell the burnt food, I walked back to my table.

"What did you pray for?" Taya asked. She sounded like she was trying to make up for nearly about to beat me up.

"Uh, I said expelliarums?" I said helplessly.

Taya rolled her eyes and muttered something in ancient Greek, which sounded distinctively like calling me a bad name.

"So," I said quickly. "Are you going to tell me about this prob at camp?"

Taya's gray eyes darted around, and then she spoke, her voice low and only audible for me to hear, "Someone has been sending mortals into camp. We don't know who or why. Also, it's impossible for people to cross the camp boarder. Is the Mist failing? Is some angry god allowing mortals to come in?"

"Uh… c-can you give me a brief, like tale about this camp?"

Snarling in a furious snarl, Taya said madly, "Look, we're demigods, meaning we're half god and half mortal. This camp was made for our protection. Meaning no mortal or monsters can get into camp."

"You mean one of my parents is… is a god?" I said, trying to wrap my brain around this new theory.

"Bingo," said Taya, nodding and looking happy that I had got it.

"Whoa, does that mean my dad is like… Loki and is pretending to be a MIT teacher? And is waiting for my mom to return home, so he can take mom and me to Asgard? And then we'll finally live happily ever—"

"NO!" Snarled Taya so ferociously and fiery, I jumped in my seat. "Your dad is a mortal working at MIT, and your mom is Athena, goddess of wisdom, crafts, and war!"

"But I don't like crafts."

Taya blew up, her face going purple, as she screamed in a whisper, "I didn't ask if you liked crafts for not!"

Jumping again, and decided I'd drop the craft biz.

"So I have a goddess for a mom," I said.

"Correct."

"You know, dad always said mom was a goddess. Said she was the goddess of beauty and wisdom," I said, thinking hard.

"Beauty? You mean he said Athena was prettier that Aphrodite? That's a pretty gutsy thing to say!" Marveled Taya, looking mildly impressed. Then she said, "You're taking this stuff I'm telling you pretty well."

"Oh. Thanks… I guess. So wait, what do you mean about monsters? This place keeps out monsters?" I said absentmindedly.

"Hellhounds, gorgons, harpies, dragons… you know, just the usual," said Taya, she listed down several more nasty beasties that I had no desire to meet.

"Oh, Sora mentioned something about me meeting monsters…" I mumbled feebly.

Taya's face went dark and she said quietly, "You mention Sora a lot. Is he close to you?"

"Oh heck no. I just mention him a lot because he bugs me so much. And he was the first half-blood that I meet," I said evenly.

Taya looked almost frightened for a brief second and told me, "Don't get to comfy with that boy. That boy is trouble."

Laughing in a supercilious way, I chortled, "Never!"

"I'm positive he's a mortal!" Sneered Taya, turning to look at Sora, who was enjoying his pancakes.

I turned also, and wrinkled my nose. "I never did like pancakes. They taste gross."

Turning away, I asked Taya, "Tell me more about this problem camp is having."

Taya finished wolfing down a piece of bacon and then lowered her voice again. "These are treacherous times, Evan." Taya nodded curtly to Malcolm who across from me, leaned in to listen.

"Save the gossip for the Aphrodite children, Taya, say nothing but the truth," whispered Malcolm.

"Don't forget to tell her about the prophecy!" Said a girl next to Malcolm.

"Shut up, Minerva," jeered Taya.

The girl next to Malcolm glared at Taya, with eyes so gray, they scared me. They looked even scarier than Taya's eye… that's scary.

"We'll start off with the prob at camp, and then I'll tell you the prophecy. Maybe about two months ago we got a new camper. His name was Robert Sol and his godly parent was Hephaestus. We found out that Robert was not dyslexic or ADHD. That's okay, some demigod aren't ADHD or dyslexic. Most demigods are ADHD and dyslexic. We also found out that—"

"Dude, drop the ADHD and dyslexic thing. I've been hearing it everywhere and I'm sick of it," I broke in.

Taya glared at me and said, "The reason you've been hearing ADHD and dyslexic so much is because your syndrome of ADHD is what keeps you alive in a battle fighting against a monster. If you weren't ADHD, you'd be sliced up really fast. Being impulsive is pretty much your strongest weapon besides celestial bronze. As for your dyslexic syndrome, your brain is functioned to learn ancient Greek. Your brain wasn't made to learn English, so that's why you struggle with English. If you ever happen to look at Greek writing, you'll probably realize you can understand what it says."

"But I'm not dyslexic!" I protested.

"Spell cyclops. That's a word that most half-blood kids can't spell. If you can spell it right, I'll believe you're not dyslexic," said Taya calmly.

I smirked. "Challenge accepted!"

Taya nodded to Malcolm and Malcolm produced a small book from his pocket.

"What's that?" I said looking at the small book.

Taya looked sheepishly away from me, "See…we're dyslexic too… and… um… we can't spell cyclops… so Malcolm wrote the word down, that way we can test other campers on their spelling. See if their dyslexic or not. Usually it's easy to spot a dyslexic kid. The way they struggle at reading English, but slide perfecting through Greek books. But for people like you, who won't admit your dyslexic, well, that's why we test people like you. Catch you off guard, you know?"

I raised my eyebrow.

"Ready!" Said Malcolm.

Taya nodded to me and I began to spell the impossible. "S-Y-I-C-L-A-P-S. Cyclops!"

Malcolm sniffed. "Are you sure you're not dyslexic?"

I nodded and laughed triumphantly, "Did I spell it right?"

"The only letters you got right was C, L, Y and S, Evan…" Said Malcolm blankly.

I paused, my mouth still opened. "You know what?" I said quickly. "Let's just forget how to spell Cyclops. Go on with the story, Taya."

"Okay, we found out that Robert was no good at tinkering with stuff or making cool things. All he did was just sit around. We figured Hephaestus must have claimed him on accident. With that, we put Robert in with the Hermes children." Taya paused, and I thought of Robert being in the same room as Sora. It would probably end with Robert's hair on fire.

"Anyway, one day while Robert and Jude, he's in Apollo's cabin, were practicing their sword fighting, Jude accidentally sliced Robert's arm off. However, instead of the arm falling off, the blade just passed through the arm. There was total shock—"

"Whoa," I interrupted. "You mean to say, he was a god in pretending to be a half-blood? Because only gods could possibly not be sliced up after being… well, sliced up." My logic didn't sound all that great, but I was in shock of this new revelation.

"Look, celestial bronze is a kind of bronze that can kill monsters. But if you're a mortal, it can't hurt you. It just goes passes through you. And if you're a demigod, then celestial bronze AND normal swords can hurt you," murmured Taya.

"Well that stinks."

"Tell me about it. Anyway that's when we knew that Robert wasn't a demigod. We were shocked because mortals couldn't pass through the border of camp. The last mortal who could pass through camp is Rachel Dare. She's our new oracle. Before Rachel, another woman came into camp. She tried to be the new oracle, but she went insane," Continued Taya.

A girl down the bench giggling and said, "Percy says that when he and Nico went shadow traveling, Nico nearly had a heart attack when Mrs. Castellan had one of her seizures!"

Another girl laughed meanly and sneered, "Yeah, that'll teach Nico not to snoop with shadow traveling! Mind his own biz, y'know?"

I raised my eyebrow again. "Shadow traveling?"

Rolling her eyes, Taya said, "Only a son of Hades can shadow travel. It basically allows you to travel to places. I think. I really don't know, I haven't asked Nico what shadow traveling is. Back to what I was saying. No one could get into camp half-blood who's not a demigod. I mean, I guess gods can get into camp, and so can Chiron. But mortals and monster can't get into it. After we threw out Robert, more and more mortals came into camp. We couldn't slice up the mortals, for fear of slicing up a demigod. Then about a month ago, Rachel told us this prophecy.

The prophecy goes like this:

Son of Mischief, Daughter of Destruction,  
fight until blood is running down the river, and fight until the dove brings peace.  
Go north where the days are short; find the land where the sun is sleepy.  
Make a sacrifice, make a choice, change the time, hurry before the bell strikes midnight.  
Some are born to the sun and some are born to endless night."

I thought about the prophecy. I wasn't that great with riddles, but I did know that this prophecy didn't rhyme at all.

"What a cheesy poem…." I said before I could stop myself.

Taya gave me one of her all powerful glares. She bopped me upside the head and snorted, "I didn't ask if you liked the prophecy, Evan! Think about it! It doesn't even sound like one of our prophecies!"

"I don't get it."

"Our prophecies are usually sort. And usually they rhyme. This prophecy that Rachel told us didn't rhyme and was way too long to be a prophecy," Taya snapped at me.

I shrugged casually and said smirking, "Not my prob."

Taya turned on me, her look so frosty; it would have frozen Jack Frost himself.

"Wow, I'm kinda thirsty…" I said, trying to look away from Taya. I had been eating salted eggs and bacon. Who couldn't be thirsty?

Before Taya could say anything, Malcolm pointed to a glass next to me. "Say whatever you want and it'll give it to you. Of course, alcohol isn't allowed."

I looked at the cup and said slowly, "Orange juice?" The cup automatically filled with orange juice.

"Whoa, they don't have this at Hogwarts…" I murmured.

Malcolm rubbed his eyes and said in an irked tone, "Great, another Harry Potter fan…"

I ignored him. Then I thought of something brilliant. "_Pumpkin juice_!" I said, grinning a wild grin.

The liquid turned into another colour of orange. It looked less creamy and more watery. I sipped it. It tasted really good. Really, really good… smiling, I drained down the pumpkin juice.

"Butterbeer!"

The cup stayed empty. "What's wrong with it? Butterbeer! _Butterbeer_!" I demanded, but it was all in vain.

"Butter_beer_. It doesn't do alcohol!" Said Malcolm. He sounded like he was trying to keep his head level.

I protested, "Butterbeer doesn't have alcohol!"

Malcolm rolled his eyes and made a grunting noise. He got up and shouted, "Line up guys!"

We all lined up; this time I wasn't the last one in the line. We began to march back to our cabin.

Taya was kind enough to line up in front of me, so she could finish up explaining stuff. "Evan, you and Sora don't get along. That's the first part of the prophecy. That's why I was so nervous when you told me you and Sora aren't friends," Said Taya.

"Sora is the son of Hermes. Not Loki," I told Taya. It was obvious that Taya had her Norse and Greek gods mixed up.

Gritting her teeth, Taya said slowly, "Sora is the son of Hermes. But Hermes can probably be known as the god of mischief somewhere! I don't know really, I don't like really like Hermes!"

"What happens if it rains?" I mused absentmindedly. I gazed up at the sky. There were no clouds but a faint rumble, rumbled off in the distance.

Taya stood out of the line and grabbed my wrist. "C'mon, Evan, we're getting you to the pegasus stable!"

"But I haven't brushed my teeth."

"C'mon!"

Taya was dragging me across the field. I could see satyrs and kids off in a wild strawberry field. There was a volleyball court, with kids playing volleyball. There was also an archery area and a fighting arena. I could see an amphitheater also. I saw a climbing wall with lava coming down it. Kids were avoiding the lava rocks and trying to scamper to the top. It looked really sweet, but I had to help clean the stupid pegasus stable.

As we were heading over to the stable a girl with pale blond hair and gold green eyes came bouncing up to us. She had pale freckles and she smelled of fresh flowers.

"Oh my gods! Taya! Did you hear that Mrs. O'Leary is gone?! She just totally vanished!" Squealed the girl.

Taya looked alarmed. She looked at the fight arena. Biting her lip, Taya said, "Is Nico here? Did he take her?"

The girl shook her head, her gold mane going crazy. As she shook her mane, a wave of cherry blossom scent floated into the air.

"Nico isn't here! Remember? He's at the Argo Two!" Said the girl. She blushed scarlet and Taya rolled her eyes. What was her problem? Was she having some allergic reaction to the name Nico?

"She's got a crush on Leo. Leo's on the Argo Two," moaned Taya. She smacked her forehead with her palm.

"Io?" I said.

"_LE-O_!" Snarled the golden haired girl. She looked as if she was planning to take me down for mistaking this dude's name.

"Is he your boyfriend or something?" I said.

I was starting to be a little frightened of this lioness.

The girl blushed even dark than scarlet, if that was possible. "Oh, no, no… I, uh, actually haven't talked to him before…"

"She's a stalker," Said Taya shortly.

My eyes widened and I began to back away from this girl. "I see…"

"River, will you take Evan to the pegasus stable? I need to go back to cabin six," Taya said.

The girl nodded importantly and said, "I'd be happy to take her!" She turned to me, her green gold eyes fixed on me. "I'm River, daughter of Demeter." She took my hand and shook it with great enthusiasm.

I let go of River's hand.

She grabbed my hand again and then started to drag me to the pegasus stable.

"Gahh! Slow down, River!" I said, trying to catch my breath.

She didn't slow down. In fact, she didn't think about slowing down until I thought we were going to run into the stable.

We walked into the stable and I coughed. It stank of horse dung and horses in general. It was dark and gloomy looking. A boy, who was obviously the head of his cabin, was telling the kids what to do.

"Yo, Riv! The Aphrodite girls took the pegasus on a fly. Lori said it would give us about three hours to clean the stable up. Grab a pitch fork and help out!" He shouted.

The boy pointed to a bunch of pitch forks that were leaning against the stable wall. River solemnly picked up a fork and walked over to where the boy was.

I did the same.

"What do you want us to do, Gilbert?" Asked River patiently.

The boy jumped off a hay bale and said, "Just shove the old dirty hay into that truck over there," He pointed to a truck of dirty hay. "Then when we're done, we'll add the fresh hay. We've already cleaned out the dung. The dung and the old hay will be used for fertilizing the strawberry field."

River's eyes went wide and she muttered to me, "Ohhh… I am never going barefooted in the strawberry field again…"

"Doesn't the stench overpower the smell of the strawberries?" I asked quietly.

River shook her head and explained, "Nah, the satyrs and the Dionysus children will probably enchant the smell of strawberries to overpower the smell of dung."

We began pitching the hay into the truck. I finally realized that it was going to be impossible not to get any of the dirty hay onto me.

Trying to ignore the smell and the heat, I said, "So, River, tell me more about Leo. Who is he?"

River's face brightened up. "Oh gods, where to start? He comes from Houston Texas, his best friends are Piper and Jason, he's fifteen, and he doesn't have a girlfriend. He's funny, smart, charming, loyal, and cute—"

"You know what? Forget Leo. Where do you come from?" I said, trying to change the subject away from this Leo dude.

River's face drooped and she said mournfully, "I come from heart Las Vegas Nevada…"

"Cool!" I said. "Do you like it in Vegas?"

"Di immortals no! Do you realize how scary it get in Las Vegas?! Having drunkards down your ally way, bellowing and brawling all night…" River shuttered and turned away.

I figured I rather hear stupid stuff about Leo than about the problems with Las Vegas.

"Actually… how about you continue with Leo…" I mumbled slowly.

River brightened up again. She ran her finger through her hair, and said, "I knew you'd want to hear about Leo rather than Las Vegas. I'm really from Houston Texas. About five minute drive away from where Leo lived. Can you believe I used to live _five _minutes away from Leo?!"

Something clicked in my mind and I said, "What? I thought you said—"

River raised her hands up in defense. "I know, I know, I lied to you, but I just want to Leo-Talk in Leo-Sytle! Did you know that I made a shirt that says TEAM LEO FOR THE WIN?"

I looked at my pitch fork. It was rusty and dirty. I thought about running the fork through Ms. Team Leo. "River!" I shouted, as she had started to monologue about Leo. "You've got to be… what? Ten? This Le-o dude isn't going to date a little girl like _you_!"

Before I knew it, River had side kicked me in the ribs and then karate kicked the back of my legs, sending me face down to the floor.

I was totally winded from the fall. I gasped and tried to catch my breath.

River bent down and said calmly, "You know… I'm really quite tired of being mistaken for a ten year old girl. I've had to put up with it… for what? Four years? I'm fifteen by the way…"

I gasped and forced myself to sit up. "What the heck was that?! You know karate?!"

River sighed and mused, "Self-defense, been taking it for seven years…"

"But you're so tiny!"

"Ah yes… don't under estimate the small ones. Just a word of advice. I mean, you can choose to ignore it, but you'll really regret it one day!" Purred River. She patted my shoulder, as if she was an elder passing on special information onto a young one.

"So… don't under estimate the small martial-arts people?" I said, trying to get this right.

River shrugged and said, "Don't under estimate small people in general."

I rubbed my ribs and tried to remember that word of advice.

River stood up and then offered a hand to me. I wasn't sure if I should take it or not. Could I trust her? I took her hand, and she helped me get up.

Picking up my pitch fork, River and I got back to cleaning the smelly stable.

After we cleaned up the old hay, Gilbert had us take the clean fresh hay and spread it around the stable. Within three hours, we had given the horses new hay, new water (the water was changed every day), and we had given the barn a scrub down.

I was all smelly and sweaty. I handed Gilbert the pitch fork, and then stretched my back. I pushed back some blond hair and then turned around to see Mallory standing in front of me.

I jumped a little and said, "Oh, it's you."

Mallory led a pegasus into the stable. She nodded importantly and said, "Been riding Violet!"

I looked at the horse. The horse had massive black wings and was a black mare. She was so black, and big, I was a little intimidated.

A bunch of other kids came trooping, all leading a pegasus.

"What time is it, Mallory?" Asked River, who was wiping sweat from her face.

"About twelve. Lunch will be in thirty minutes. I'd advise you guys to shower up," said Mallory, looking at us two with a critical eye.

"I'm so hungry!" Moaned River.

Mallory was still looking at River and I. She looked as though she was trying to analyze how to give us a makeover.

"When you're done showering…" Started Mallory.

"NO! You can't give me a makeover! Don't even ask!" Snapped River.

I gave a warning look to Mallory. I wasn't sure if River was going to pull a karate move on Mallory.

Mallory then looked at me. She had a pleading look on her face. I was tempted to say: okay. Sure. Just anything to stop you from making that sad puppy dog face.

"Will you let me give _you _a makeover, Evan? Your face is so pretty… those eyes would look lovely with gray eye shadow!" Said Mallory softly.

Her voice was so soothing and calm. I felt like I was under the Imperius curse. Bliss. The voice of Mallory was total bliss…

"Watch out, Evan! She can charmspeak!" Screamed River. She shrieked it so loudly, several of the pegasus stamped uneasily and some whinnied.

I jolted, as if being jolted from a dream, and said, "What? Charmspeak? Eh?!"

Mallory sighed and folded her arms. Rolling her eyes, she sighed, "Way to go, Riv."

River and I walked back to the cabins together. The sun was high up and most of the people in the volleyball court had left. I saw that centaur guy giving archery lessons to a bunch of kids with bows and arrows. Some kids tried to climb up the climbing wall of doom. Most of the campers were talking and milling about, waiting for lunch.

I saw girls coming out of the trees. Like literally. It was a little strange. Their hair caught in the wind as they danced around with a couple satyrs.

After I showered, I went to my bunk. I was growing tired and sleepy. I wasn't all that hungry. My body ached and I was really quite tired.

I lie down in my bunk and fell asleep.

I had this weird dream. I dreamed that it was dark and that I was crying. Three other people where with me, also crying. What were we crying about?

The strangest thing was, I knew what we were crying about, and yet I didn't. I understood the matter, but the biggest most important part of this dream—was gone. Missing as if it had never been born before.

The earth shook from thunder, and the air smelled of wet goat. Was there a satyr nearby?

The next weird thing that happened was this, all the sudden I wasn't the girl crying. I was someone standing away from this group. The group now had four people crying.

_You don't know where you are, my child?_ Said a voice in my head. It was a woman's voice. The voice was like red wine. Rich and cool, yet warm and melting. The voice made the earth tremble.

The voice… I had heard it before. Or it at least sounded like someone I once knew. "Mom?" I croaked my voice was dry and crackly.

_Where are you, Evangeline Irena Smith? _

I looked around. But it was still dark. Then lightning flashed, and for a brief second I saw where I was.

A graveyard. Four children sat sobbing at a gravestone. The stone wasn't big and fancy; on the contrary, it looked homemade and poorly done. I couldn't make out the words on the stone, but I thought I saw a stick with two strings coiled around it. All four children wore orange shirts.

"Mom?" I said again. I wanted someone to hold me. I wanted my dad to hold me. Everything went dark again.

_He's coming… Evangeline…I must leave you…and please, remember this… Endless night isn't evil. Your best friend was born to Endless night._

"Mom!" I said again. The voice was fading away. I tried to grasp at the black air, but my arms wouldn't do anything.

Her last beautiful words to me were, _Sweet dreams, Evangeline. Oh, expect a quest soon_.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 I'm offered a quest

I bolted up in my bed; I was sweating, my mom's last words still echoing in my ear.

A quest?

I looked out of my window. It wasn't noon or so anymore. I must have slept for at least four hours straight. I missed out on lunch.

Someone burst into the cabin. It was Taya. She looked eager and excited. "Evan! Evan!" She shrieked. "C'mon! Meeting at the big house!"

She grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the cabin. About a hundred campers were also flocking the same way we were going.

We walked for about five minutes before the big house was in view. Taya dragged me into the big house.

There were old arcade games and a Ping-Pong table. There were cheese crackers and sodas. There was a leopard head on the wall. It was alive. It was purring and growling, which was kind of disturbing if you asked me.

More campers and satyrs came into the big house. The centaur and the big fat pudgy mad man were also in this room.

Mallory was on a sofa with some of her friends, they were giving each other makeup tips while doing each other's hair. Sora was talking to Ben, who was eating a soda can. River was making silly faces with a girl I recognized from my mom's cabin.

The centaur stamped his foot and everyone became silent.

"We all know the prophecy. Mr. D and I have decided what to do about the prophecy. We both agree that a daughter of Athena, a son of Hermes, and a daughter of Aphrodite must be chosen for this quest," Said the centaur.

All the Athena girls that I had seen this morning all perked up.

"What's this quest about?" Said an Athena child.

A curly redheaded girl, wearing blue jeans that had paint splatters on them, said, "It's obvious, Ciara, this prophecy is about the mortals being able to come into camp."

The centaur nodded. "I agree with Rachel. We will send the three chosen ones up north like the prophecy said. From what I have heard, Sora and Evangeline do not all together… get along."

Some kids whispered "part of the prophecy!" and some whispered "why choose them?" and someone said, "That's silly. Evangeline just got in last night!"

I looked up at the centaur. And then I looked at Sora, who also seemed to be shocked with this new thought. Not the thought of the fact that I didn't get along with him, but the fact that the centaur wanted us to go on the quest.

For once, Sora didn't make some sort of sneering or snide comment.

"It would be wise to send Evangeline north. Why? Because, dear campers, Evangeline's scent doesn't appear to be all that strong. Think about it, Evangeline was able to come to camp without any trouble. Benjamin was late getting to Evangeline. And then Evangeline quitted school all together. Meaning Benjamin had a hard time finding her. And so did the monsters. That will be a bonus to the other two on the quest. Sora also appears to have a weak scent. Another plus. When Sora first came to camp, he too never had any trouble getting here," Said the centaur.

"But, Chiron!" Protested Taya. "That's impossible! Unless… they're both _mortals_!"

Chiron, who I guess was the centaur, said, "I do not believe they are mortals, Taya. I believe they just have a weak scent. Now… Evangeline Smith… do you accept the quest?"

I thought about it. "Will it be dangerous?" I said slowly. A couple kids laughed. Their laugh was mean sounding, as if they knew what was going to happen to me if I went on the quest.

Chiron looked grave and said, "There has never been a quest that was not dangerous, dear one."

I hesitated. "Then… no. I do not accept the quest."

Everyone looked at me like I had gone mad. Including Chiron.

"Child, most children are dying for a quest. This is an opportunity that may never come to you again," Said Chiron. His eyes fixed on me. His eyes were tired and old looking, and for once, I wondered how old he really was.

All the Athena children looked at me with hungry eyes. All the sudden, they didn't look so friendly. They looked like they were trying to figure out how to nab my quest. "I'll… I'll only go if you pay me," I said loudly and firmly.

"A mercenary? Di immortals! What do they teach these children? Train them for the government these days, eh?" Sneered the pudgy man. He was drinking diet coke and looking tipsy. Though, I'm pretty sure you can't get drunk on diet coke.

I gritted my teeth. Some of the campers laughed. "I'm not going unless you pay me," I said again. "If this quest is going to be hard, there is no reason to go freely. I want to be paid for my hard work."

Chiron looked down and shook his head. I was afraid he was going to refuse me. But he said, "How much do you want, child?"

A cruel smile slipped from my lips. I quickly hid the smile. I was about to say five hundred dollars, but what slipped out was, "Five thousand dollars."

Chiron's face was dark and mysterious. "Very well."

The pudgy man, I guess who was Mr. D, went purple in the face and said, "What? Five thousand dollars?! Chiron, surely you aren't going to do it?"

Chiron said something quietly, which I was able to hear, "I have to give her the money. This money is a cold cruel teacher, who will teach Evangeline a lesson with money."

I paused. Did I really want to do this for money? I decided, yes, I did want to do this for money.

I headed over to the snacks; I was pretty hungry, especially after missing out on lunch.

Something about my dream was bugging me. Like, bugging me beyond bugging. My best friend was born to Endless night? Who was my best friend?

"The prophecy says that the dove will bring peace. It is obvious an Aphrodite child must accompany them. We will let Sora and Evangeline choose the third member," Said Chiron, he had to yell it, because everyone was going ballistic.

The only person I really knew in this camp was River Bedow, who looked like a ten year old, but was really this fifteen year old Chuck Norris girl. Then there was Sora, who was this obnoxious prankster, who was I was doomed to go on a quest with. And of course, there was the happy-go-lucky Mallory Colman, who frankly, scared me more than River and her 'Leo-Talk'.

Ben came over to me; he grabbed one of the empty cans and began to munch on it. "So, Evan, why'd you ask for money?"

What a stupid goat.

"Did you hear me? This is all going to be hard and whatnot, I want to be paid for this job. Not go freely. I mean, dude, I might die!" I said my angry rising. The thought of me dying, made me crabby.

"Dude, what a waste of money…" Replied Ben.

I felt like punching him.

Ben seemed to notice how angry I was getting, because he stepped a couple steps back, and said, "You know what, Evan? Let's go to the armory and get you geared up for a fight. It's really stress relieving to hack at your opponent."

I was tempted to say "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a darn" and just stomp off, but I let the goat drag me out side and off to the armory.

Kids were already coming out of the big house and resuming their usual activities. Sora came running after us and shouting, "Wait up!"

I looked around at Sora and rolled my eyes enthusiastically, "Does he have to come?"

Ben looked back to watch Sora come after them. He shrugged and said, "He's a really good fighter."

I hissed and said some snarky words, of course, within earshot so that way Sora could hear the words.

"If I hadn't played that prank on you, would you still hate my guts?" Asked Sora, running his fingers through his thick fluffy hair.

I thought about it. Would he still annoy me even if he didn't play that prank on me? Probably.

"Yep. Sure thing…" I said, glaring at Sora with righteous anger.

Sora and Ben looked at each other and both shrugged.

Sora mumbled under his breath, "Women are a fickle beast."

I ignored that comment.

Ben tried to break the awkward silence that followed. "So…" he said slowly. "You know… if you guys are going to be going on a quest with each other… shouldn't you two try and get along?"

Sora and I both pointed an accusing finger at one another. He said, "Get along with her?!" And I said, "Get along with him?!"

Ben put on his bored face again. "Forget I asked such a hard request…"

Sora and I both crossed our arms, and refused to look at each other.

Once we got to the armory, Ben fitted me out with some armor and gave me a sword. The sword was long and felt awkward in my hand. "I don't like this sword," I complained.

"Deal," Snarled Sora, who had his own bronze sword.

Ben rolled his eyes and grabbed the sword out of my hand, and gave me a new sword.

"I don't like this one either…" I said. I sounded whiny, but at this point, I didn't really care.

Glaring, Ben lugged out this big box of bronze swords. "Find your own."

I stared at the box full of swords. I took out a little small sword. Nope. Then a big one. Absolutely not. Then I found a medium sword. Nah, it still felt way too heavy in my hand. After about five minutes, I found a plain bronze rapier. "Sweet," I said. "I didn't know you guys had rapiers."

Ben looked at the sword. "Probably made by Anna. She's in the Hephaestus cabin. And she's obsessed with Finial Fantasy Seven. She probably was trying to make it look like Genesis's sword or something stupid like that," said Ben. He now had his bored voice on, as well as his bored face.

I didn't know what Final Fantasy Seven was, but this was one totally wicked sword.

"Do we get to keep swords?" I ask quickly.

Ben looked at the sword. "Yeah. Sure. As long as you don't already have one. Each camper is supposed to have some sort of protection."

I beamed. I was happy enough to start a conversation with Sora.

"It needs a name; I don't think Anna ever named that sword Rapier. She chucked it because it didn't turn out right. Not flamboyant enough or effeminate," Said Ben, looking at the sword with a critical eye.

I looked baffled. "Uh, why would you want to name a rapier Rapier?"

Ben rolled his eyes. "The rapier in Final Fantasy Seven, that looks like that rapier," At this, Ben pointed a finger towards the rapier in my hand. "Was named Rapier. Stop asking stupid questions."

I looked at the sword again. "I think… this swords name will be…" I paused and squinted at the sword. "Will be...! I don't know…"

Ben and Sora looked at each other. They both carried blank expressions.

"Ah forget the name. Let's go!" I said.

Sword fighting was a lot harder than I thought it would be. A lot harder. In fact, within five minutes, I was sweating like never before and trembling really hard. My stupid unnamed sword now felt awkward in my hand. Maybe I should have never chosen this sword.

Sora seemed as equally tired, but he was holding up a lot better than I was. Ben would yell "parry!" Or "Watch out!" Or "Look out!"

After about ten minutes, I finally collapsed. I was tired, but it was a good feeling. I guess it really was stress relieving.

Ben handed Sora and I cups filled with water.

I drained my cup down instantly. The water tasted good in my mouth.

We left the arena and all went up a hill together. Within fifteen minutes or so, we had sort of become friends. Nah, wrong word. Companions? Nah… ah, you know what I mean. Not really friends, but not hating each other's guts either.

The sun was starting to set and the clouds were etched with gold. The sea was dark blue and looked as if someone had thrown in broken glass to make the sea sparkle.

We sat down on the hill and gazed at the sea. The air smelled like fresh pine cones and salt.

I felt so good; I deiced to try a conversation with Sora. "Sooo, Sora, where do you come from?" I asked kindly.

Sora looked kind of startled, but he replied with, "Manhattan. You?"

"Cambridge," I paused to see Sora's reaction. He raised an eyebrow. "Cambridge… Massachusetts."

"Planning to go to Harvard, Evan?" Asked Ben.

I made a face and said, "That school?"

"Uh," Started Sora. "I think she supports the_ other_ school."

"What? Massachusetts Institute?" Said Ben, looking at me.

"Of Technology," I finished.

"Wouldn't it be like… MI_O_T?" Questioned Sora.

I shook my head. "No because the 'of' isn't all that important. Duh."

"Nice to see you two getting along!" Said a voice behind us.

It was Mallory. She had her hair tied in a French braid and her camp Half-blood shirt tucked into her pants. She smiled at us and sat down between Ben and me.

Sora and I looked at each other and then looked at Mallory. Mallory didn't seem to notice two pairs of eyes glaring at her.

"We were…" Started Sora and then he paused.

"Passing on mutual questions," I finished.

Sora nodded and said, "Yeah!" And then he blinked as if he couldn't' believe he had just agreed with me.

Mallory lit up and she said, "Ohhh! I love asking questions!"

Ben stared blankly into the sea. "No, Mal, you like _answering_ questions."

It was my turn to light up. "You like answering question?"

Mallory blushed and then nodded.

"Okay! What's the square root of—" I started, but Ben cut me off. "Whoa, Brainy, she only likes answering mutual questions."

I went blank. "Oh… what's your favourite colour…" I said dully.

Mallory lit up and said, "Pink! With purple polka dots!"

Pink? With purple polka dots? This girl scared me.

"Evan, you and Sora need to get ready for the quest. You guys are leaving tomorrow. Oh, and Chiron also says you need to choose the Aphrodite child who's going to go with you," Said Mallory. She began to nervously mess with her braid. She nervously glanced at Sora and I.

"What? You expect us to take you along?" Sora said, catching Mallory's eye.

Mallory hung her head and shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just… tired of being left out. Ever since I came here I've been the odd one out. Especially in my mom's cabin. Do you realize how hard it is to try and fit in with them?"

I couldn't image that Mallory had a hard time fitting into with the other Aphrodite girls. She was so pretty and cheerful and friendly… who wouldn't want to be her friend?

"I-I don't think Sora or me have problem with you coming along…" I said slowly.

Sora looked at me, and quickly said, "Evan, she can charmspeak—"

"I don't care," I said loudly. "If she can charmspeak and make anyone do whatever she wants them to do, that's great. It may be handy. Besides, I know what it feels like to be left out."

I remembered my bad times at school. When all the kids made fun of me. Told me I was weird and a total nerd. I usually don't mind being called a nerd, but when EVERYONE is being mean to me all at once… well… that is why I quitted school when I was ten. I was sick of teachers and kids picking on me. I would come home every day to granddad and cry. Granddad would comfort me by giving me burnt peanut brittle and tell me stories. That's why I like it at MIT, even when the students asked me difficult questions and called me a spaz, because I at least knew they listened to me. Otherwise they'd never come up with the stupidly difficult questions, right?

"Evvvaaan?" Said Sora. He waved his hand in front of my face.

"Dude, you just like totally spaced out for a couple seconds," Said Ben, he chortled, until I gave him my evil eye. The chortle died down pretty quickly. Ben bleated and then avoided eye contact with me.

"I don't have much to pack up for. I guess I'll just do some other stuff. My last day at camp…" I looked around. Kids were talking to each other, some were starting a new game of volleyball, and other kids were playing tricks on each other. I liked camp. I had only been here for nearly twenty four hours, but I felt like this was my second home. I felt as if I had lived here my whole life.

I wondered what was up north that was so exciting. And I wondered how far north we would have to go. This whole quest sounded pointless.

"So… what exactly are we doing on this quest?" I said softly.

"Well apart from trying to stay alive, I guess we're going to figure out who's been sending in morals into camp. We'll probably find hints along the way. I mean, even the most brilliant mastermind's leave clue behind. Even Moriarty. Actually, I don't know about Moriarty. He's REALLY brilliant," Said Mallory. She seemed totally relaxed about this all. She even smiled when she was talking about how brilliant Moriarty was.

"So basically we're going on a wild goose chase?" I concluded.

Sora nodded. "Pretty much."

Great, I thought. A wild goose chase. A wild goose chase where I end up dying. A wild goose chase where I end up dying in a painful way. My favourite goose chase.

"I think we're going to need an expendable crewman," I sighed.

Sora said cheerfully, "We already _have_ one!"

Sora and I couldn't help but smiling evilly at each other. Then we both shifted our evil smiles onto Mallory, who was still rambling on how brilliant Moriarty was.

Light bulb.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Rachel Dare was wrong

After dinner Chiron made us wait to leave, because he wanted Sora and I to tell the whole camp which Aphrodite child we were taking.

Taya forced me to stand up. My legs felt like pudding and my mouth felt dry. "Uh," I squeaked. "I… ah… I mean… S-Sora and I want… Mallorgy—I mean Mallory… to be third… uh… um… person in group…" I slurred everything and left out most of the important words. I don't understand why I stuttered so much! I do great at MIT, and I'm in front of geniuses. This was just a group of kids. Creepy kids. Creepy kids that were half god. Creepy kids that were half god and had special powers…

All the kids looked at me, and then looked at Mallory, who was smiling so broadly, I was afraid she was going to start rambling on about Professor Moriarty, who she apparently liked.

"Gahh!" Some of the kids yelled. Other kids yelled, "DON'T TAKE HER! SHE'S JINXED!" There was such an uproar, I didn't know what to do. I saw Mallory run away, tears streaming down her face. Then I looked at Sora, who looked equally confused. He looked at me and shrugged. Now people were just yelling and screaming for the fun of it.

Chiron pounded his hoof on the ground and yelled, "SILENCE!"

Everyone stopped yelling. Everyone stopped moving. Everyone's eyes fell on Chiron.

"If Sora and Evangeline wish to take Mallory, Mallory they shall take. If you have any objections about it, please keep it to yourself," Chiron's voice was quiet, but everyone heard what he said.

"Sir," I said cautiously. "Someone told me I could choose two people to accompany me on this quest…"

Chiron nodded and said, "That is so. You have Mallory and Sora."

"Sir," I began. "I didn't choose those people. Sora and Mallory were a part of the prophecy. I would like to choose two new people to accompany us."

Chiron looked at me in a very strange manner. He said very quietly, "You are a very interesting child… a very smart child..."

I shook my head. I wasn't smart. I just used certain things to my advantage.

"Trickery isn't allowed!" Someone shouted. Someone else shouted, "That can't be right! If they take two more people… it means Rachel's prophecy was wrong!"

The redhead girl I had seen earlier jumped up and said, "The prophecy can't be wrong! The prophecies never lie!"

Chiron stroked his beard. He looked thoughtfully at the redheaded girl and then at me. "So…" He said quietly. "You want to take two more on this quest?"

I nodded. "A person for Sora to choose and one for me to choose."

Chiron nodded very slowly and said, "Then what about Mallory? Will she get to choose someone?"

I swallowed. I hadn't thought about that. Would Mallory be okay if Sora and I each chose someone, but she didn't? Well, Mallory was lucky enough to come along. "Just… just Sora and I get to choose…"

I didn't look at Sora or Chiron. I was afraid that Chiron was going to say no and tell me to stop asking requests, but he said, "Very well… because we cannot break the promise, that says you can take two people on a quest, you shall take two new people to your choosing."

I looked up at Sora. He was looking at me in a very curious way. One of his eyebrow raised high and his head was cocked to one side, like a dog waiting for the master to play with him. I couldn't help but smile a shy smile at him. Then I turned to look at Chiron and my smile fell. He looked sad and almost upset. As if I was this evil person using gifts to my advantage. I felt bad and wondered if I should call of the money. But I had a feeling I was going to need the money and the extra companions. I already knew who I was going to pick, but I didn't know who Sora would pick.

Chiron paused and then said, "Who do you pick, Evangeline?"

Without pausing, I said, "River Bedow."

There was a pause of tension in the air, before a squeal of delight broke free into the air. River jumped from her table and bounced up and down, fanning herself with her hands. "Wait! So wait! _I'm _going along! Oh my! Eee! I'm so excited!"

Other than martial-arts, I wondered what other power she had. On that matter, I wondered what Sora could do. Maybe I would ask him later. I wondered what my powers were. Taking advantage of people? Well, my mom was pretty crafty.

Chiron turned and then said softly, "Sora, who are you picking along to go on the quest?"

Sora jolted as if he hadn't been paying much attention to the conversation. Someone from the Hermes cabin pinched his arm, making Sora yelp and jump up. Sora, still looking spacey in Chiron's direction said, "Er… Benjamin Saints?"

From a table filled with satyrs and blond headed children, I heard Ben yell, "SCORE! Oh yah! I'll go pack right away!"

I saw Ben trying to scuttle away, but Mr. D grabbing the back of Ben's shirt and said in an ill-tempered voice, "Not so fast, Blondie!" He took a swig of diet Pepsi and then spluttered it into Ben's face. "Drat it! Diet coke!" He yelled into the air. Thunder rumbled off in the distance and Mr. D rolled his eyes. A diet coke appeared in midair and Mr. D caught it. He continued, "Now, Saints, listen to what the old horse has to say. And then you can go pack up."

Ben pouted and stuck his bottle lip out. "Satyr poop!" I heard him mumble. Expect I heard him use a different word for 'poop'. Mr. D smacked him on the head, and Ben squealed indignantly. "Watch your language, Saints!" Snarled Mr. D.

I turned my head away, and decided to leave them alone. Chiron was waiting patiently for Mr. D and Ben to finish up arguing. "Is that who you choose, Sora?" He said slowly, raising his eyebrow.

Sora blushed and said awkwardly, "Apart from the fact that he has a bad habit of cussing… he's a great satyr!"

Chiron smiled kindly and said, "I have no doubt that he is a great satyr, Sora. Of course you may take him."

Sora then smiled awkwardly, bowed and said, "Arigatou!"

So he was half Japanese. Because his dad is Hermes, probably fair skinned, his mom must Japanese. For some reason I did a little fist pump of triumph. I didn't know why I did that, it wasn't as if I had finding out that Sora was this evil criminal and I had captured him, winning a million dollars from catching him. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if he was a criminal. River had said that the Hermes children were amazing thieves and usually didn't have a very good guilty conscious to tell them off.

Chiron nodded, and said, "Camp fire sing-along time. But I do ask that the children chosen for the quest start packing."

I hadn't notice I was still standing up. I was glad I didn't notice it until now. I had been fidgeting a little necklace they had given me a couple hours ago. It only had one bead on it. It was a little owl. I hated the little bead. I hated owls. Especially great horned owls.

Everyone started getting up and moving towards the amphitheater, where I guess they held sing-alongs. Everyone was laughing and talking, and I was a little disappointed that I had to pack. Not that I ever had a picnic singing. The only thing I could really sing was a Taylor Swift song and the theme song for Doctor Who, which doesn't really qualify as singing, since all you do is "doo-wee-ooo! Wee-ooo-ooo!".

I walk over to where Sora was.

I asked Sora, "What time are we leaving tomorrow?"

Sora shrugged and began to walk to the cabins. "Oh… probably at five in the morning…" He said airily.

I froze and my mind did about five billion calculations on what time I'd get to sleep, how much sleep I would get, how long it would take to finish packing, etc.

Sora laughed full heartedly and said, "I'm just teasing you, Evan. Sheesh, you are so naïve."

My mind went frozen, as I processed what Sora had just said. My head blew up, not literally, and I yelled, "Hey! That was not nice! I only trusted you because—"

"Yo!" Said Ben quickly catching up. He seemed to have foreseen another catfight coming on soon, so he said, "What up?"

I glared at him. "Your twit of a friend is being mean," I complained.

Ben looked at Sora. Sora looked up at the sky and whistled softly. Ben carried his usual blank poker face. "You don't say," Ben mused softly.

There was another silence and then River came up to join us. "Yozo! Sup, y'all!"

I didn't feel like replying. Ben wondered off to go pack. I wondered where he stayed.

"So… are all demigods born with special powers?" I asked.

I could see Sora thinking hard about how to answer my question, or that how to rob me from my five thousand dollars, and River pondering the question with great enthusiasm, her eye brows moving up and down.

"Well, I know that Leo can play with fire. He's been blessed with the fire gift I think. I can't remember what the gift was call, or even if the gift had a name. Leo is really gifted at making stuff…" River trailed off into a murmur, as Sora took over and said, "Most demigods do have some sort of power. It doesn't have to be big or anything. My powers are pretty toned down. All I can do is steal… and usually get away with it…" he muttered quietly.

"Great. So what are my powers?" I inquired.

Sora thought about my question. Or maybe he was _still_ thinking about how to rob me from my five thousand dollars.

"Probably manipulation," said Sora. "You find the little details to support your manipulation. That way the person either feels guilty or gives you what you want or just simply agrees with you. And then there is the option that they just can't argue against the manipulation."

"Athena is pretty tricky!" Said River brightly.

Sora nodded in agreement. "Very!"

I viciously snapped back, "Hey! That's my mom you guys are talking about!"

River flinched and squeaked an apology.

"Sorry," mumbled Sora.

There was a long pause, as we continued to walk to the cabins.

"I'm going to miss camp…" I sighed.

River twitched and then said, "Me too!"

River went bouncing off somewhere, but I froze in mid step. Sora turned to me and said, "What is it?"

I paused and then said slowly, "I think we should go find Mallory and talk to her. Where do you think she is?"

Sora thought hard, and then waved me to the forest. "C'mon, I think I know where she is…" He said thoughtfully.

Sora led me deeper and deeper into the woods. There were strange sounds and it was totally dark. I was beginning to feel a little nervous. "Are we out of camp borders?"

Sora turned to me and smiled and mischievous smile. "Maybe… maybe not…" He said quietly.

"Sora, if you don't tell me where we are, I swear I'll—" I started, but Sora shushed me and said, "Listen! Someone is crying… that's defiantly Mal."

I listened. A spooky wail was coming from the left of the river. Sora began to walk to the left, but I quickly grabbed his arm and said, "Wait! Does this camp have banshees?"

I was quite sure if I wanted to meet a banshee.

Sora shook me off and said, "Nah, the only reason you think the wailing is a banshee, is because you're scared."

Turning red with anger, I snarled and stomped after him. "Who says _I'm _scared, huh?!"

Sora ignored me and kept plowing to the left.

The bubbling stream was dark blue, and the moon was high, making the pebbles shine bright.

Sitting on a big rock was Mallory. Mallory didn't seem to notice us. She would occasionally stare up at the moon. Her mascara was smeared from crying, and her hair was disheveled. Then she would put her face in her hands again and start wailing.

I stopped dead in my track. Sora didn't seem to be bothered by Mallory's face. He quietly crept up to Mallory and said, "Mallory?"

I didn't want to be the only one standing there like an idiot, so before Mallory had time to look up, I quickly ran over to where Mallory was.

"You guys! What are you doing? You're supposed to be packing!" Said Mallory. Her voice was hoarse and strained.

"You're supposed to be packing too, Mal," Said Sora quietly.

"Yeah!" I said. It sounded a little odd and not very comforting sounding. "Besides… we need you! You're the dove that's supposed to stop me and Sora from ripping each other's heads off. And you can charmspeak. That'll be handy."

Sora seemed to quickly read Mallory's body language, because without hesitation he kicked me in the shin. "OW! What the heck?" I yelled at Sora. I began to massage my shin. Then Mallory broke out into a wail again. "Great! So you just wanted to use me! You never wanted me to come along in the first place!"

Sora leaned over to me and snarled, "Great going, Genius!" Then he turned to Mallory and said soothingly, "Look, what those kids said back there—" Sora paused and then continued. "It's a load of satyr poop. You shouldn't have the other campers decide on what your fate is. You're not a puppet, Mal. Do something that you want to do." Being a decent guy that he was, he didn't cuss like Ben would have.

"And follow what your heart says!" I said. That time I thought I sounded great. I sounded confident and comforting.

Sora put on Ben's blank face. "Ignore what she said. Disney quotes aren't allowed."

Mallory let out a giggle.

I crossed my arms and felt like sulking. How come Sora was able to be Mr. Social Man? Sora is a _guy_ for crying out loud! Guys aren't supposed to be Mr. Social! That's _our_ (meaning us girls) jobs to be Mrs. Social!

Mallory jumped off the rock and said in a cheerful voice, "Let's go!"

After we all said goodnight, I went to pack what little stuff I had. Then I got ready for bed and went to sleep. Or rather, I tossed and turned. Now that I was wide awake, and not tired, I didn't want to go to sleep. Kids started coming into the cabin and getting ready for bed. They whispering softly, which in my opinion is worse than talking loudly.

Finally I drifted off.

I didn't have any odd dreams. I just heard my mom's voice calmly saying, "He's coming. He's coming." Over and over, just softly in the back of my head.

The next thing I knew was, I was shaken awake.

It had to be around five. It was still dark and I could hear crickets chirping. I couldn't believe I was getting up at this time of the night to go on a stupid quest.

Irritated, I slapped a hand away. Then someone spoke, in a rather breathless way, "Evan! Evan! There's something I need to show you!" It was Sora.

What the heck was he doing up so late?!

I snarled back, "What? You—you're not supposed to be in the Athena cabin, you idiot!"

Sora said urgently, "I know! But I need to show you something!"

"Darnit! Can't it wait until tomorrow?" I whispered frantically.

"No! We won't have time, and besides what I need to talk to you about is private!" Said Sora.

I finally growled and made some sort of snorting noise, and got up.

We quickly and quietly went outside. It was spooky in the dark and I wasn't sure if Sora was going to play a prank on me. There were no campers, I could hear shrill noises off in the distance. We walked for about five minutes in silence. Then I said, "Sora, how come you were able to talk and cheer up Mallory instantly? And then whatever I said just ended up sounding stupid?"

Sora didn't reply for a couple seconds, then he said, "I guess you're socially awkward. Most of the Athena campers are. But not near as socially awkward as the Hephaestus campers, so count your blessing. And about the part of me being all smooth, that's probably because I'm a Hermes child. From early on we used to take in all the unclaimed children. Do you realize how many we had in our cabin? There were a lot of Hermes children to start with, and then to plus about fifteen more children… anyway, the Hermes children usually get along with everyone, so when we had even more unclaimed children, our getting along skills just got even better. We learned to read body language and to read when someone was upset or was about to cry. We could detect how someone was feeling, by the way they held their hands and what they did with their feet. Like take right now for an example. You're most likely upset with me and you're also a bit nervous."

Startled, I stuttered, "What? H-how could you tell?!"

Sora chuckled and quoted from the Great Holmes, "You see, but you do not observe!"

Then all the sudden, one of the high screams came our way.

Sora grabbed my hand and jerked me to the side, hiding us behind a tree. I was about to shout angrily, when he put his hand over my mouth.

I could hear flapping noises. Like of big leathery wings flapping lazily in the night sky. The flapping and the screaming got closer. By the time I decided that we were done for by this monster, the screaming and flapping started to go away.

He whispered, as he let go of my mouth, "Harpies! They patrol the night, looking for campers who aren't in bed. They give out harsh chores! And they tattletale on you if they catch you!"

Gripping Sora's hand tightly, I angrily whispered, "Then what are we doing out of bed?!"

Sora didn't reply, but only led me endlessly through the woods. He mention something about taking shortcuts through the woods and taking me to the armory.

Once we got to the armory room, Sora pushed the doors open and shoved me in.

There weren't a lot of lights, and all the suits of armor looked ominous in the dull lighting. Sora led me down the hall, to where a big dog was lying down on the ground. The dog was black and fast asleep.

I suddenly realized I was still holding Sora's hand. I decided to let go of his hand.

"You wanted me to see a dog?" I said. I was still annoyed that Sora dragged me out of bed to see a dog fast asleep.

Sora kneeled down to the dog and said, "She's been shadow traveling…"

Rolling me eyes, I snarled, "No one cares if this dog has been shadow traveling! And… uh… just out of curiosity… how can you tell she's been shadow traveling?"

Sora scratched his head; his hair looked twice more disheveled in the night than it did in the morning.

"She's knocked out. Sleeping like a wee babe. After you shadow travel, you get really sleepy," He said, softly petting the dog.

Raising my eyebrow, I said, "How do you know?"

"I asked Nico what shadow traveling was," Said Sora, still stroking the dog.

"Whatever," I said grumpily.

"Look, she had blond hairs on her…" Sora said. He then looked at me, and pointed an accusing finger at me. "_Your _blond hairs. That's what I wanted to show you."

That couldn't be possible. I blinked, and then kneeled down to see the dog's black hair. The dog smelled of wet goat. I saw long blond hairs on the dog's neck.

"I don't understand…" I whispered.

Then all the sudden, we heard footsteps on the marble floor. Or rather, hoof steps. Sora grabbed my hand for the second time, and dragged me behind a big Grecian pillar.

The hoof steps came closer and closer. My feet feeling like jelly, and my hand being sweaty, I grasped Sora's hand harder, as my heart beat rapidly. The sound of the hoof steps sounded like the volume was turned up on the max of a radio and the base was all the way up. The sound pounded in my ears.

Then the hoof steps stopped where the dog was. "Hey, Mrs. O'Leary…" Said a tired voice.

It was Ben's voice. What was he doing at this time of night?

Sora quickly ran out of the protection of the pillar, and said, "Ben!" Though, his voice died away when he saw Ben.

Ben looked twice as startled then Sora and I, and even looked almost scared when he saw Sora.

Ben wasn't wearing pajamas. He was wearing a torn up camp Half-blood shirt and baggy jeans. His Cardinal cap was dirty and muddy. He had dark shadows under his eyes and a couple purple bruise on his cheeks. "Oh Styx… oh satyr poop…" he whimpered quietly. He looked really scared now.

Heh, heh, I guess we did look pretty stupid in our PJs and we were holding—my eyes went wide and I blushed, as I quickly let go of Sora's hand.

"Wha—what are you guys…" Ben's voice died away. He didn't seem to care that Sora and I had jumped out from a pillar, in the middle of the night, holding hands. Sora didn't seem to be bothered either. Guys. They never care for a girl's rep.

Sora was looking at Ben hard. "What are you doing, Ben?"

As if he hadn't heard Sora spoke, Ben said again, "What are you guys… doing?"

Sora and I looked bewildered at each other. I shrugged and then looked back at Ben. "Sora's fault," I said immediately.

Ben shifted his spacey gaze onto Sora. Sora raised his hands in defense. "Whoa, Ben, we were just checking up on Mrs. O'Leary."

Suddenly it hit me. Sora must have been to the armory once before he and I went. Otherwise he wouldn't be in such a hurry to show me something. I turned to Sora and scrunched up my face. "What… what were _you_ doing in the armory at this time of night?"

Ben looked totally spaced out, and said softly, "He used to go in here when he couldn't go to sleep… Told me it was a great place to think and get in some practice…" Ben looked like he was about to tear up.

Sora and I looked at each other and then looked at Ben. We chorused together, "_Used to_?"

Ben seem to snap out of his daze. He quickly slapped his face and said, "Gah! Sorry! Sleepy. Ahhh… I was, um, wondering in the woods. I figured I'd just… you know… get dressed and… yeah… poop…"

"Dude, it's five in the morning," Sora said, looking concerned at Ben. "We don't leave until nine AM."

Ben's face drooped and he said miserably, "But… but… you said we'd be leaving at five…"

Sora chuckled and said, "No, man, I was only joking."

Ben didn't look convinced. He stood there. He reeked of wet goat.

Sora took Ben by the hand and dragged him out of the armory. "C'mon. I'll take you back to your bed…" Said Sora gently.

Ben looked totally alarmed and yelped. "NO!" He screamed. "I mean! No! I can go to bed myself! I… I don't want you guys to get caught by the harpies."

Sora let go of Ben's hand and stared at Ben.

Ben looked sad and said, "I'm sorry, but… I'm going to have to put you guys to sleep…"

When he said that, I thought he was going to take out this huge shot containing poison to put us to sleep. But instead he took out a reed pipe. He began to blow into the pipe. A soft lullaby was lulling Sora and I to sleep. It sounded like magic… it sounded like a Narnia lullaby.

He paused from playing the reed pipe to say, "I know you aren't going to remember anything I say, or even remembering me… but… it was really good to see you again, Sora…"

Sora and I shook our heads, as our heads started to clear from the enchantment, but Ben began to play his pipe again. So soft… and gentle… so sweet and calming. My head began to spin as I collapse to the ground from enchanting sleep.

I woke up to someone shaking me awake. I had a great rest and no dreams. The person who awoke me was Malcolm.

Everyone was still asleep and the sun was just starting to rise. It was maybe seven or so. "You need to go to the mess hall and eat. Hurry, you don't have much time."

After I got dressed, I rubbed my eyes and staggered to the picnic area.

The tables were mostly empty. Sora sat at his table, Ben sat at another, River another table, and Mallory another table. I sat down at table six.

Some pretty girls in long green Grecian gowns with long brown hair, served me eggs and bacon.

"Pumpkin juice," I said to my cup. The cup filled with frothy liquid.

We all ate in silence. My chewing seemed to echo and bounce off the Grecian pillars.

Then Chiron came to the pavilion. He carried a large plastic bag of money. All eyes were on Chiron. Or that on the bag of money.

He nodded and said, "Good morning campers."

We all mumbled a good morning back. I steeled up the courage to ask, "Chiron, where are we heading to?"

Chiron smiled and said softly, "Well… for one thing… you guys are _not _going up north."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Chiron tests the strength of the Prophecy

"Why are you sending us south?" Shouted River. She had jumped up, knocking her cup of milk off the table.

Chiron smiled and said, "Calm down, Ms. Bedow…" He took a pause, and then said, "If Evangeline has already broken the prophecy, then there is no reason why I shouldn't break the prophecy. I am going to send you south. The very opposite direction of north."

Mallory seem to have taken the whole deal fairly well. "What are we going to do in the south?"

Chiron smiled. A smile which I would have almost call a wicked smile. "You are going to blow up the San Jacinto monument in Houston Texas. Then you are going to travel underground to the north…"

River's mouth dropped and she mumbled, "B-b-blow up… the San Jacinto mon-monument? But… but…"

Smiling broadly now, Chiron said, "Take your time in Houston. Visit the NASA space center. Go visit the city. I don't see any time limit that you have to complete the prophecy."

I couldn't understand why Chiron was acting this way. Maybe he was trying to deal with stress. And the way he dealt with it was to have every half-blood go ballistic in public and then ended up in prison.

Sora raised his hand. "Excuse me… Chiron?"

Chiron turned and looked at Sora. "Yes, my boy?"

"Can… can we stop in Dallas on the way?" Ask Sora nervously.

"What is there that you want to see in Dallas?" Asked Chiron solemnly.

Ben sighed, and said, "He wants to go to A-Kon…"

"A-Kon?" Inquired Chiron.

Mallory lit up and jumped up. I was afraid she was about to say something about Moriarty. I prepared to cover my ears and ignore her. Instead she said joyfully, "Words biggest anime convention!"

Sora added on to what Mallory said, "Actually, I don't think it's the biggest, but it is big."

Chiron shrugged and said, "I don't see why not. One last thing, Evangeline… your money."

I guiltily swallowed my food and walked to where Chiron held the plastic bag.

I took the bag. "My child…" Said Chiron softly. "Whatever you do with the money… remember that money can play cold and mean tricks on you…"

Swallowing hard, I nodded and walked back to my table, stiff necked.

Chiron smiled an easy smile and said, "You guy aren't really blowing up the monument… I'll tell you what to do when you get there."

River relaxed a bit and began to breathe normally. Before she had been breathing shallowly and had gone red with anger at the thought of blowing up a monument in her home town.

Chiron told us to finish up eating and then left.

Once he left, we all broke out into conversations. For just five people, we were pretty noisy.

River was saying that she was going to have us meet her dad and go see the place where Leo used to live at.

Mallory and Sora were talking about how to get into A-Kon. It appeared that Sora was going to steal some tickets and steal five Shinobi headbands?

I had to get Ben to explain to me what A-Kon was.

After we finished breakfast, I went back to the Athena cabin to do some last minute packing. I wasn't in a great mood. I didn't know how we were going to make it to Houston. I felt like yelling and shouting satyr poop, but most of my fellow half bros and sis were still slumbering.

Muttering and cussing under my breath, (I blame getting up early for my bad attitude) I stormed outside the cabin.

Someone quickly came out of the cabin, and followed me. It was Taya. Her blond hair was tied in a braid and she had on Hello Kitty pajamas on. I would have laughed, except it's usually not a bright idea to laugh at Taya. She was quickly strapping on a sword to her hip. I guess she had gotten her sword back. I was a little nervous that Taya might try and slice me up.

"Hey! Evan!" She said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I turned and said, "Yeah?"

"Be safe and…" Taya looked a little guilty. I realized that she was trying to figure out words on how to apology about yesterday morning.

"Hey, no hard feelings. I now understand why you were checking to see if I was a mortal!" I said cheerfully.

Taya looked at me strangely and said, "Um, actually I was going to ask you what were you doing last night with Sora…"

First I blushed for being wrong about what Taya said, and then even harder at the questions she had asked now. "Oh satyr poop," I murmured, my voice dying away. "Y-y-you saw us? I hate Sora…"

Taya slapped me on the head and shouted angrily, "Just because stupid Ben cusses, doesn't mean his bad habits have rub off onto you!"

Stunned my natural instinct kicked in. I slapped Taya back and drew my rapier, which was hanging from my hip.

In return, Taya yelled an angry blood curdling roar and drew her own sword, a shining bronze Grecian thing.

Before I knew it I swung my sword at Taya and Taya easily parried my swing.

But before things could get real serious, River came from nowhere and grabbed Taya's sword blade and my wrist. For such a small girl, River seemed surprisingly strong as she twisted my wrist, making me yelp and drop my sword.

Then she must have realized how hard she was gripping Taya's blade because she herself yelped as she released her grip on the blade. Her hand was cut from how hard she had been gripping the blade.

Her face was pale as tears started to slip from her eyes.

Taya looked shocked and quickly said, "Let me see your cut, River!"

River cradled her hand and angrily shouted, "No! I can deal with my own bloody injuries! In the meantime, think how you could have stopped this bloody fight!" She cussed. I thought it was kind of funny and clever how she used swear words to fit into the sentences, but I decided now wasn't a good time to laugh and tell her how funny she was.

More tears were now streaming down her face and then she ran off, her golden mane flying in the air. She literally ran into Sora on the way and yelled at him and called him some nasty names, but River showed Sora her hand.

Taya glared at Sora and muttered some dark ancient Greek words at him. I just clueless and wondered why River was showing the injury Sora, but wouldn't show the wound to us.

"Hey. How come she shows him the injury?" I said annoyed.

Taya spat, "He's the son of Hermes. Hermes is the medical bub."

"So Hermes is sort of this Jack of all Trade dude?" I inquired. I had gotten over the fight. I'm pretty ADD, and it didn't seem right to stay angry at Taya.

Taya didn't appear to be over the fight quite yet. "Darnit, I don't care who the heck he is!" She cussed angrily.

"Look," I started. "I shouldn't have cussed just a few minutes ago. I was just shocked and that was the only thing that popped into my head at the moment."

Taya looked tired. She rubbed her eyes and said, "Don't worry about it, Evan. I'm sorry I slapped you…"

I turned by back to Taya and began to walk off. She quickly grabbed my arm and said, "Evan… what were you and Sora doing?"

I looked at Taya. Her gray eyes were glaring into my mind and melting my brain. "Sora wanted to talk to me about something in the armory," I said.

Raising an eyebrow, Taya kept asking more questions. "What were you talking about?"

I thought about it. Truth was… I didn't remember what we talked about. I just remember being in the armory and seeing a big black dog. And holding hands with Sora, but that was about it. I had woken up to Malcolm shaking me awake. Maybe we had made it back to our cabin, but I was so sleepy I forgot walking back to the cabins.

"None of your biz," I finally said. There was no way I was going to tell Taya that Sora and I were holding hands while staring at a big black dog. Even the holding hands and the big dog seemed a bit fuzzy. The only reason why I didn't believe it was a dream was because Taya had apparently saw Sora and I head off to the armory. Why was I even holding hands with Sora? Were we scared something or someone? There is no way you could ever get me to hold hands with Sora, you hear me, readers?

Before Taya could yell at me, Mallory came sprinting up. "Hiya, Evan! Can I give you a makeover before we leave?" She asked cheerily.

I gave her Ben's blank face. "No," I said dully.

Mallory made a sad face and then bounced off. I was about to leave for the, what? Third time? Fourth? Before Taya grabbed my arm again and said, "Evan, if I catch you going off somewhere with Sora in the night again, I'm going to report you to Chiron." Her voice was calm and dangerously low.

I shook her off and snapped, "What do you have against Sora anyway?"

Taya gritted her teeth and snarled in a hushed whisper, "I hate that child. Stuck up little prankster. I swear he's a mortal…"

I stared at her. Had Taya lost her mind? Smirking, I mused, "Swear it on the River Styx."

Taya glared at me. She licked her lips and didn't reply. Still smirking, I viciously snapped, "Not so easy is it, Taya?"

Taya looked at me as if she wanted to rip my throat out and drink my blood for breakfast. In a low audible voice, Taya said, "I hate Sora and I will always hate him."

I began to walk again. This time no Taya stopped me. In a loud cocky voice, I shouted back, "Relax, Taya! The worst thing Sora and I would ever do is _K-I-S-S_!" I turned my head to see the enraged Taya, swinging her sword in midair. Then I shouted again in an obnoxious way, "Beside, you won't see Sora and I for a long time! Who knows! Maybe we'll plan our wedding day while we're gone! You're invited!"

We were given big backpacks and told to stuff only our most important belongings. Clothes, ambrosia and necter, snacks, lotion, etc. No doubt in Mallory's bag, she had mostly makeup. Or maybe her mom blessed her with a new makeover every morning.

I met River along the way. Strips of cloth where wrapped around her hand. She looked like some kind of ninja with the cool cloths wrapped around her hand, but her hand was stiff.

"How's your hand, River?" I asked soothingly.

River didn't look at me. She probably felt like it was still somewhat my fault that she got hurt. "Oh, it's fine…"

I understood what she meant. It wasn't fine.

Once again, Mallory popped up from nowhere. She had a pink backpack with flowers all over it. "Where's Sora?" She asked curiously. She looked around curiously and then sprinted off again.

I rolled my eyes. Mallory was one super ADHD child. I then wondered where Ben was. We were all getting a bad start. It was now nine o'clock. "Go look for Ben," I told River. This quest couldn't hold any more delays. I was itching to leave. I had butterflies in my stomach and I was jumpy.

"Okay, then go look for Sora," Replied River.

"Deal. Meet back within five minutes. Oh, and if you see Mallory, grab her along also. Once we're all here, we'll go bug Chiron!" I commanded.

River didn't seem bothered by my commands, which is fine by me, because I'm a kind of control freak, who freaks out if you don't do what I ask you to do.

I began to march to the first place that I figured Sora would be at. In cabin eleven.

I shyly peaked in the cabin. A dozen or so kids were snoring away in their bunks. The inside was as boring as the outside of the cabin. The room looked a bit like a hospital that was stationed in a gym room. It was a little strange, but I wasn't really paying that much attention.

I looked at all the kids that were snoozing. Where could Sora be? I thought about walking into the room and searching for Sora, but I figured I didn't really want to be caught snooping. It was really quiet, beside the fact of the snoring kids, and my eyes felt kind of heavy just looking at them all snoozing.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Said a voice from behind me.

I screamed and did a one-eighty jump. Sora was scratching his disheveled hair and looking like he was trying not to laugh.

"S-sorry, S-s-sora! I, uh, was," I stammered.

"Aw, how sweet you were looking for me!" Sora gave me an obnoxious lopsided grin.

My brain moving slowly, it took a second for me to process what he had said. "Wah?"

Still grinning, Sora lightly punched my arm and said, "C'mon, let's go find the others."

"Wah?"

"Wah all the way back to you, Evan."

"Huh?"

Sora bopped me on the head and said, "Someone needs coffee."

After he bopped me on the head, my mind seemed to wake up more. Or at least my arguing part of my brain. "What was that for?!"

Whistling softly, Sora ignored my question and marched onwards. My heart was still fluttering from when Sora had scared me.

The sun was already up and warming up the earth. Stereotypical cumulus clouds were drifting lazily across the sky. The wind was toying with my hair and kept making my wayward strands of hair flip into my eyes. I figured if I didn't do something about my hair, then it would go completely bonkers and end up tangled. Oh, wait, my hair is already tangled.

"Curse this evil wind!" I snarled, as I madly tried to brush the hair out of my eyes.

While still battling with my rebellious hair, I heard a snapping noise and then felt a sharp pain in my left arm. Yelping, I looked around to see what had caused the pain. Sora was offering me a neon pink ponytail band. I figured he was the one that had slapped me with the band. Suspiciously, I snatched the ponytail band from his hand and with lightning fingers, tied my hair into a ponytail.

"Where'd you get the band?" I said suspiciously.

Shrugging, Sora said, "Found it."

I highly doubted that. He probably raided it from some poor innocent camper. I decided it wasn't all that important for further investigation.

We were kind of aimlessly wondering around. The aimlessly wondering around led us to the big house. There at the big house Chiron stood talking to Mallory, River, and Ben.

His face looked grave. My friend's faces also looked downcast and confused.

"Yo, what's up?" Said Sora, walking up to the porch.

River gave Sora a downcast look. "It may not be such a hot idea to have Ben and I come along on the quest…" She said quietly. Her face looked discouraged and tired, as if she had been too excited last night to go to sleep and now she was suffering the consequence.

"What do you mean?" I said, walking up behind Sora.

Ben said sorrowfully, "River's scent is of a normal half-blood. And my scent is of a goat. Both those smells attract monsters…"

I didn't get it.

"If we come along, there is more of a chance that we'll get attacked by monsters. The prophecy made it sound like it wanted you and Sora to go because you two didn't have a strong scent. That way you might have a chance to live. As for Mallory, it would just smell like a single half-blood and still attract fewer monsters. Double the smell up by two more…" River trailed off.

There was a long pause.

Then I said, "Prophecy smarphecy. Who the heck cares?"

Everyone turned to look at me.

I continued, "If we're already breaking the prophecy by going south, there's no reason why we can't do a little more rule breaking."

Sora said slowly and uneasily, "But… we can't continue breaking the prophecy. If one thing is wrong, we can't afford to keep—"

I broke in, "You of all people, Sora, should be _fine_ with rule breaking. And if one thing is wrong with the prophecy already… well then," I smiled an evil smile. "We should have no trouble to figure out how true this prophecy is."

Sora gave me a shocked look. "Are you saying that this prophecy isn't a real prophecy?"

Smirking, I took out the ponytail from my hair and then slapped the ponytail band at Sora. "Use your brain, blockhead. You hear but you do not process the stuff you hear."

I began to march down the steps of the porch. River followed merrily and said, "I'm so glad we have a daughter of Athena with us!"

Sora called after me, "I'm serious, Evan, are you saying this prophecy isn't a true prophecy?"

I stopped abruptly and turned sharply. I glared daggers at him. "I'm not sure of anything. I'm telling you to use your brain, stupid head."

Sora blushed crimson and then a volley of bad words produced from his mouth.

"Scourgify!" I yelled at Sora.

Sora stopped cussing, and everyone looked at me as if I had gone batty. I didn't mind the look. Infact, I felt good. My brain and body was finally waking up. The world was making way for me, Evangeline Smith. I smirked triumphantly and turned away.

"So!" I yelled behind me. I was hoping Chiron could hear me. "How are we getting to Houston?"

I looked to see Chiron stroking his beard.

Chiron smiled and said softly, "Well, since you are such a smart aleck…" He paused and then continued. "I figured _you_ can lead your friends and yourself to Houston."

My smirk dropped.

Whoa, wait, Chiron wants ME to lead four of my friends and me… to Houston?! Lead them by myself?!

Oh crumbs.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Back in the Days

We sat in the car in silence.

After Ben and Sora arguing who got shotgun, Ben finally threatened Sora that if he didn't get shotgun then he would set angry nymphs on him.

Nymphs are usually pretty easy going and easy to get along with. But if you litter near their tree or if you play with fire too near them, they get pretty nasty. They'll put bugs and dirt into your bed at night and sometimes if you do something really bad, they'll team up with the naiads and do really mean things to you. And if you're an Athena child, occasionally they'll send spiders at you. And if you're an Athena child, you'll understand what spiders can do to you.

The guy driving us was named Argus. He had blond hair and eyes everywhere. I mean it. On his head, hands, arms, legs, you name it. I didn't know who he was, but he seemed pretty cool and laid back.

I was squished between Sora and Mallory.

There wasn't much to talk about other than what our plans were, but I didn't even know what the plans were.

I had asked Argus to stop by Cambridge Massachusetts. Sora was sure to inform me that Cambridge was not on the way. I smirked at him and told him I didn't care.

River, who was crushed between Mallory and the door, asked, "So, what are we doing in Cambridge?"

I said airily, "Visiting my granddad. I want you guys to meet him."

River eyed me suspiciously. "What's he like?"

I smiled at the thought of granddad. "Like any other awesome granddad. Except about ten time cooler."

Argus took a wrong turn, so it took about four hours and thirty minutes of driving. By the end of the drive, Sora was asleep and drooling (I had to keep pushing his head away from me, or that he'd start drooling on me), Ben was between asleep and awake, and I myself was drifting away slowly. The only thing that kept me awake was the whispers of Mallory and River, the snore of Ben, and the occasional pushing the head of Sora away from me, who was drooling like a pug.

Argus drove up the driveway of my house.

I shook Sora awake and yelled, "Hey, blockhead! Wake up!"

Sora started and made a snort. "Eh? Hear already?"

I got out of the car and pulled my backpack out of the trunk. I yawned. It felt good to be out of the car.

Argus waved goodbye to us, and drove off, I swear one of his eyes was staring at us, as we trooped up to the porch.

I knocked on the door and waited.

The door slowly opened and granddad's voice said, "No I wouldn't like any of your stupid scout cookies."

Before he closed the door, I pushed the door open. "Gramps, it's just me, Evangeline!"

The door widened and granddad stood there. His face lit up with a smile. His wrinkles seemed to vanish for a fraction of a second. He looked young and happy. "Evangeline!" He gave me a big bear hug and then took a look at your friend.

He looked at Ben, who had crutches and his baseball cap on. He was wearing baggy jeans and his loose camp Half-blood T. "Satyr!" He said firmly.

Ben looked surprised but didn't reply.

Then granddad looked at Sora. His face lit up with a mischievous smile. "Evangeline!" He slowly. "You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend! And you got him so quickly! The last visit from you was only a couple days ago!"

Sora and I looked at each other with big eyes. He raised his hands up in defense. "Uh, oh, n-n-no, sir, Evan isn't my girlfriend!"

I pointed an accusing finger at Sora. "_Him_? My _boyfriend_?! HA! No way!"

Granddad gave Sora a cheeky look. Then he turned to me and gave me the same cheeky face. "Evangeline," He said slowly and slyly. "Remember how your dad and mom fell in love? There was a forbidden love between them and they said they'd never marry!"

Sora's big brown eyes widened even more as he said in a awed voice, "Whoa, Evan, did that seriously happen?"

Mallory on the other hand clasped her hands and said, "Kawaii! Really? Aww! That's so sweet!"

I rubbed my temples and said, "Gramps! Don't embarrass me in front—"

"Don't embarrass you in front of your boyfriend?" Finished granddad.

"_Granddad_!"

Granddad chuckled and let us in. "Too bad your dad isn't here to approve of your boyfriend! He'd love this boy!"

"Granddad, you barely even know him! You don't even know his name!" I snarled.

Granddad gave Sora a spacey look, "Aw, true love!"

Sora blink and then looked at me. "Why did you want to come here?"

Sulking, I ignored my stupid _boyfriend's _remark, which was making everything worse. I should have chosen someone who wasn't good looking, instead of someone who was good looking to come along on the quest with me. Did I just say that Sora was good looking? Forget it.

In an ill-temper I took my backpack off my shoulders and put it on the floor.

I took a deep breath of the smell of my home. Old dusty books and burnt peanut brittle. Couldn't get any better than that.

"I think I'll make a new batch of peanut brittle!" Croaked gramps.

He toddled off to the kitchen and beckoned us to follow.

We all sat down at the kitchen table, and granddad served us some of his famous sour lemonade. He always used too much lemon.

Ben took a swig and nearly choked. I had forgotten how much of a shock this lemonade could be to new people. For me, it was normal. I didn't like normal lemonade; in fact, I always recoiled at the taste of store bought lemonade.

While granddad was making peanut brittle, he had me tell everything that went on at camp. How Chiron was doing, if Mr. D was still as grumpy as always, how I got the quest, how I met my friends and how I was doing in general.

After I told my tale, granddad decided that Sora and I met while stargazing one night. And that we were both determined not to tell anyone that we liked each other. And then of course, Ben demanded to know if that was true. Mallory seemed to believe my granddad, and River didn't know what to think. Her mind was still on Le-o. And I decided I didn't want to know what Sora thought of the story.

I whispered to Sora, "Granddad has a stupid knack for telling chick flick stories."

Sora didn't reply. He was enthusiastically examining the cup's design and trying very hard not to make contact with me or Granddad.

As the brittle was cooking, granddad ran to another room and the came back with an armload of old photo books.

I turned pale and whispered a prayer.

"Is it something scary?" Ask River, who looked at me curiously.

"What are those books?!" I demanded, my voice shaky and unsteady.

He smiled and handed everyone, including me, an old photo book. "Photos of back in the day!"

I opened the maroon photo book, and to my horror, they were back in the day photos… of ME… as a little child…

One of the pictures was of me attacking a slice of cake. I was in a high chair and I had a small tuff of blond hair. My eyes were big and gray and my face was covered in frosting.

Whamming my head on the table I snarled, "Granddad!"

Gramps ignored the fact that I was trying to kill myself and leaned over Sora's shoulder. "And that's Evangeline when he was two! She was a natural at playing the drums! Always had good rhythm!" Said Granddad happily.

I leaned over to see the picture. A little shirtless girl with long blond curly hair was banging pots and pans with two wooden spoons.

I figured I had about ten seconds to find some poison and kill myself with it.

"Granddad, I did not have great rhythm!" I shouted.

Granddad waggled a finger and smiled, "I didn't say you had great rhythm, I just said you were _good_ at rhythm!"

I gritted my teeth and tried to choke on my lemonade.

Mallory laughed merrily and said, "Is this you when you were twelve or so? Oh my gods you are so cute!"

I didn't dare look at the picture of me cute. Instead I buried my face in my hands and moaned.

Ben then began to laugh historically. He began to laugh so hard, he started to pound the table with his fist, making the cups tremble. Granddad quickly rushed over to Ben's side and peered at the picture to see what was so funny. "Ah! When Evangeline was eleven she asked if she could try and straiten her hair with a straitening iron! Think she looks good?"

"She looks—she looks so, so, so!" Started Ben, then River said absentmindedly, "Pretty?"

Ben started to laugh again. Then he shoved the book in front of River's nose. River's green gold eyes stared at the picture, and then she too started to laugh. "That is a LOT of straight hair! It looks like you've got a mane!"

I dared to peek over at the picture.

Eleven year old, braces, and pimply face me was staring back at me with long straight hair. I looked totally different. I looked as if I was trying to be the cool teenage girls with the long straight hair and the cool attitude. Except… some of my rebellious hair already looked like it was trying to curl again. The mix of odd sloppy curls and straight hair made me look like an idiot.

I made a grunting noise as I tried to pull my hair out. "Granddad!" I yelled.

Mallory didn't seem to want to look at the picture. I felt like hugging Mallory and crying tear of joy. What a good friend. Actually, she was too busy laughing at a different picture. Mallory shoved the photo book under my nose this time and said through breaths of laughter, "What are you wearing?"

I was relieved to find out it wasn't anything too bad. "It was a Halloween party! I'm dressed as the Doctor from the TV show Doctor Who!"

Mallory began to laugh so hard, she nearly fell from the chair. "You're wearing a _red thing_ on your head!"

I blushed and retorted back, "What! Fezzes are cool!"

"You should have gone as River Song, sweetie!" Exclaimed River.

I smacked my forehead and said, "I should have! Darn! There's always next year though."

After a while of pure torcher of old photos of me, the smell of burnt peanut brittle grew stronger and stronger. Finally it dawned of gramps that the brittle was burning. He quickly excused himself and then attended to the brittle. I never believed that I would one day betray myself with all these pictures.

Rubbing my eyes, I told everyone that I'd be in the backyard if anyone needed me.

I had the coolest yard ever. The yard had tall oak trees that shaded the grass. There was a patch of grass that wasn't shaded by the oak trees. There was my old garden. I used to pant veggies and flower in it. Of course, I always left it unattended, so the vegetables usually died pretty quickly.

I had a tree house in one of the big oaks. The tree house was big enough to hold one big room, and two small rooms. Granddad and I used to sleep in the tree house together while eating peanut brittle and telling spooky stories.

I went up the ladder and walked around the porch. The windows needed washing, and the porch needed a bit of sweeping, but other than that, it was just how I remembered it. Then I opened the door.

I flipped the switch. The tree house had air-conditioning and heating and electricity. That's pretty fancy if you ask me. There was a beat up old leather sofa and a big table in the middle of the room. The table had bored games and books on it. I used to study here if I wanted to be out of the house. An old radio sat in a corner, looking rejected and old.

I used to play here all the time when I was younger. And when I was mad, I always ran to the tree house.

The wall of the tree house was painted light green, so that way when it was sunny, it would make the room look big and cheery.

I plopped down on the sofa and closed my eyes, my face absorbing the sun's warmth. It felt good. It was so quiet and peaceful here.

The door creaked open and I opened my eye to see who it was. It was Sora.

"Oh, hi," I said dully.

Sora came in and looked around. "Whoa, some tree house!"

I looked around. I guess it really some tree house. "Um," I said awkwardly. "I guess you can sit on the sofa with me…"

I awkwardly made some room for him and he awkwardly sat down. He handed me some burnt brittle and said, "Your granddad told me to give you some brittle. He said you might be in the tree house."

Sora graciously handed me some brittle.

I tore off some of my brittle. Rolling the sweet candy in my mouth, I asked, "So… how are you enjoying my gramps stories and photos?"

Sora took a bite of his brittle and said, "I'm kind of enjoying it."

I glared into the wall and said, "Glad you are…"

Sora replied, "I'm kind of jealous to tell the truth…"

Shocked, I looked at him and said, "What? You mean you're jealous that you don't have photos of yourself when you were little, being shoved right in front of your friends nose?!"

Sora quickly shook his head and said hastily, "No, no! That's not what I mean," He paused and then took a deep breath and continued. "See… I grew up with only my mom… and she was never around…"

I thought of my dad never being around. I said sourly, "Welcome to the feeling…"

Sora rubbed his eyes and said in a tired voice, "No… mom was never around… and when she was, she kept telling me I was no son of hers. Kept telling me that her real son was out there somewhere in the big world. Mom told me herself that she didn't care all that much for me. She was always busy working. Finally she told me to leave. She told me I was a handful and that she didn't have the time for me. She sent me to Camp Half-Blood. A camp for demented children like you, she told me."

Sora's face was dark and scary. "When I was at camp, Chiron and all the satyrs helped me to learn that there were real Greek gods out there. They had kids with mortals and those kids were called demigods. I was mad at my dad for leaving my mom. Even though my mom hated me, I was close to her. I was mad because all mom ever wanted was her husband and to live a normal life. With me she had to support two people at once. Mom was only twenty when she had me and then dad left. She was still trying to get a bachelor degree and stay in a full time job. I wanted dad to stay loyal to mom. Not only for my mom's sake, but for me too. I didn't want to be kicked out of the family."

I listened in silence. Then I said softly, "So… you thought having your dad at home… meant… a family?"

Sora nodded. "That's why when I came to your house, even though your mom isn't home, you all manage to still be a family."

I thought about Sora's past. I was far better off than Sora had ever been. I had attention. I had books. I had a loving granddad and a loving father I could run to when I was lonely, and I wanted more. How greedy could mankind get? Obviously very greedy. The thought of my greed, while I was living with everything one could ever want, made me sick.

"I used to want so much…" I confessed. "I wanted _so_ much; I guess I never looked to see how much I already had."

We sat in silence, while munching on peanut brittle, each with our own thoughts.

"What college do you want to go to?" Asked Sora, breaking the silence.

I looked at Sora and pondered the question. "I don't know," I said slowly. Standing up, I walked to the door and smirked. "I may not live long enough to go to college."

At dinner time, gramps cooked us up a storm of food. Hotdogs or hamburgers, smoothies or root beer float, and peach cobbler or baked apples.

We all were in good moods and ate the food with great tears of joy. Okay, tears of joy didn't happen. You see, in camp the nymphs usually tend to have low fat meat and baked chips. Their very healthy, and while they don't make us be vegetarians or vegans, they still cook us low fat meat and low sodium baked chips. It's really kind of annoying.

Then the front door opened and closed.

We all paused eating, Ben holding a fork of potato salad in his mouth, Mallory paused from taking a swig of water (she politely turned down more lemonade), and River had half a hotdog sticking out for mouth. No one spoke.

We could hear a briefcase being dropped on the floor and a heavy sigh.

I wanted to run to dad, but I stayed put. Would he like my friends? Why wouldn't he like my friends?

Dad came into the kitchen. His pale blond hair was askew and his brown eyes were tired looking. His face looked like it hadn't been shaved in a while, and a couple wrinkles clung to his face. My dad was as handsome as ever.

Dad looked around the table and laid his eyes on me. His face lit up and he said, "Eve!" I stood up and dashed over to dad. "Dad!" I cried. I began to tear up for no such reason.

I dad usually wasn't around much, but for some reason, I felt like I had been away from dad for ages.

Dad pulled me away and dried away my tears with his hand. He said softly as if I was just five years old and had just fell of my bike and scraped my knee, "Don't cry, darling. Everything is alright."

I gained composer quickly, sniffed strongly, and said, "Dad, these are my friends I met at camp. River Bedow, Benjamin Saints, Mallory Colman, and Sora—" I paused, partly because I didn't know what Sora's last name was, and partly because granddad said, "Sora is Evangeline's boyfriend!"

Dad raised an eyebrow and looked at me strangely. "Uh, Eve, don't you think you're a bit young to have a boyfriend? And wasn't that a little quick to get one?" He asked logically.

"Dad! Sora is _not_ my boyfriend! Gramps is making stuff up!" I snarled, pointing a finger at granddad.

Dad looked where I was indicating. Granddad looked at the ceiling and reddened a little. Dad looked at granddad smiled wearily and said, "I should have known… dad, stop teasing Eve," dad paused and turned to Sora. He smiled kindly at Sora. "And leave our poor guest alone."

Sora exhaled.

Grinning, I fixed my dad a plate of food. Handing it to him, I asked, "How was work?"

Dad smiled and said, "Good, Eve. Simon asked about you, darling."

I felt my face reddening a little. Simon Thomson was my old time crush. When I was eleven, I told granddad that I was going to marry him. I don't want to marry him anymore, don't worry. But I still liked Simon. He always had the really hard questions to my lectures. And he was the one that called me spaz all the time. I always liked his attitude… and his big blue intelligent eyes… I turned away from my friends and said, "Oh, did he… what did he say?"

"He asked if you were coming up with any more new brilliant theories," said dad.

"Jonathan! Evangeline is not up for grabs! Sora already got to her first!" Yelled Granddad, his mouth full of food.

"GRANDDAD!"

"Dad! I don't you to leave Eve and Sora alone!"

Gramps sighed and surrendered, "Fine whatever!"

Dad winked at me.

He began to walk away with his food. My face drooped as he walked away. I called after him, "Aren't you eating with us?"

Dad turned and sadly shook his head. "I have to start grading some papers, Eve. Wish I could though."

Depressed, I sat down again.

The rest of the meal was quiet.

At night time I rolled over in my bed. It was dark and I felt sleepy, I just couldn't get to sleep. I was sharing a room with Mallory and River. They were in sleeping bags at the floor, and I was in my bed.

River and Mallory were talking quietly about Leo and other boys.

I finally asked something that had been bugging me for a while. "So Hermes and Apollo and all the other gods are related to me, right?"

River said back, "Yep!"

"Then… that means we're sort of related… what happens when you decide you like some kid from another cabin?" I asked. Then I regretted saying it. What I had said made it sound like I liked Sora.

Mallory picked up my regrets, because she said enthusiastically, "Well, usually we try and ignore that. I mean, it doesn't matter if other campers like each other. I mean, we don't crush on our half sister or brother. So, have you decided that you like Sora?"

"No," I snarled.

"Evan's too proud to admit she likes Sora, Mallory! Sheesh!" Giggled River.

Was that true? Was I too proud to admit or even realized that I liked Sora? Nah, I wasn't too proud to admit that I liked Sora. Sora and I were born to be rivals against each other. But what were we rivaling against?

"I don't like Sora," I said finally.

"Yes you do!" Mallory laughed.

I gritted my teeth. "I like him as a friend. Nothing more!"

"Sora's really cute!" Said Mallory with so much enthusiasm I was afraid she'd explode. "You can't deny that!"

"I—ah—egh!" I said, fully annoyed now. Usually I was too mad at Sora to notice what Sora looked like.

Mallory and River laughed full of contempt. "He's really tenderhearted! And sweet! And happy! And, and he likes bunnies!" Giggled River. She busted into shrieks of laughter at the thought of Sora liking bunnies.

Mallory stopped laughing, while River kept laughing hysterically. "What? He does not like bunnies!"

River stopped laughing too. "Oh, he doesn't?"

I glared at my friends. "You're making everything up. He's _not_ good looking, he's _not_ sweet, he's _not_ tenderhearted, and he does _NOT_ like bunnies!"

My room door cracked open and Ben poked his head in. "Who doesn't like bunnies?" He questioned.

"What are you doing here?" Mallory yelled savagely at Ben.

Ben's eyes went wind and he squealed, "Eek, don't kill me! I was just coming in here to tell you guys that you guys are being really noisy and keeping Sora and I awake!"

Ben quickly closed the door and scampered off.

Mallory paused, and then laughed. River sat up and stared at me, her eyes almost glowing. She was wearing her TEAM LEO FOR THE WIN shirt, and the shirt had quotes like: _That's what happens when it snows in Texas, it-freaking-melts_ and _I'm going to face-plant you hard, Leo-Style_ and _I'm so cool I wanna date myself, but I can't figure out how! _What I wanted to know, was _how on earth_ she managed to get those quotes from him. How bad of a stalker was she?!

"River," I said slowly. I wasn't sure if I wanted River to ramble on about Leo and get her adrenalin pumped up. "Who _is _Leo?"

To my great shock, River said calmly, "A boy from Houston Texas. He's half Mexican. And he has THE dreamiest big. Brown. Eyes. EVER," River paused, because she was smiling too broadly to talk. "He's really quite hilarious and funny… unlike his serious friend Jason. Jason is so annoying. Piper is nice though. But I really like Leo!"

I raised my eyebrow. Sniffing snobbishly, I inquired, "How old is Leo?"

River thought hard. "Fifteen or sixteen. He kind of accidentally killed his own mom…"

I perked up. This was going to be interesting. I leaned in and nodded, indicating that River had my full attention.

River looked a little embarrassed, but she continued, "He didn't mean to kill his mom, he was possessed I think, I don't remember what happened, but he ended up setting his mother's work shed on fire and his mom happened to be locked up in the shed. He was only eight or so. Anyway, he's been scared to play with fire for a long time. He thought he was a freak and that kid would be scared of him, so he kept it a secret from his friends. Anyway, I've been trying to find the guts to talk to him, but I've been too shy. I steeled up the nerves to wave to him once, but I don't think he noticed me. Then he set off on the Argo Two to California with his friend… from what I know, he's kind of a seventh wheel…"

"Seventh wheel? You mean fifth wheel?" Asked Mallory, she also seemed intrigued by the story.

River shook her head. "No, Piper told me that Leo's sort of the seventh wheel of the seven kids on the Argo Two."

Mallory looked shocked and started, "How do you know?!"

River sighed and propped her head up on her hand. "I've Iris messaged Piper a couple times. She knows that I like Leo, but I begged her not to tell Leo that I liked him."

"Why not?" Demanded Mallory.

Shrugging River said, "I guess it would be awkward if Leo found out he had a stalker."

Smirking I prodded, "Look, if Leo is so cool and funny that way, then he's probably going to find it awesome that he has his own personal fan girl."

River brightened up a little. "You think so?"

Mallory nodded and said assuredly, "Totally!"

River paused, and then jumped up from her sleeping back. "Then let's give Piper an Iris message!"

Clueless I just said, "Eh? Iris… what?"

But Mallory seemed a little annoyed. "What? Why right know?! You're so impulsive! Can't it wait until tomorrow?"

River went to her backpack and unzipped the bag. She rummaged around for a few seconds and then produced a golden coin. "Nope! C'mon! Let's use the bathroom!"

Mallory stopped River from running away to the bathroom. "No, the bathroom won't give us a rainbow! We have to do it outside! In the MORNING!"

River slumped down. She tossed the coin the air and then grabbed it from midair. "Fine…" she mumbled submissively.

I settled back down in my bed, my heart getting over the adrenaline of the thought of instant messaging. Or Irish messaging. Whatever it was called. It sounded exciting whatever it was.

River crawled back to the sleeping bag. "We'll do it first thing in the morning. Early enough so that no one else will watch us."

I shrugged and snuggled deep down in the covers of my bed. "Hm not makin' any promises, Riv…"

I began to drift off.

My dream started like this: I was in the forest. Alone. I knew I was being pursued by something or someone. I was scared and tired and weak.

I had this big burden on my back, it was like Christian's burden in Pilgrim's Progress, except smaller. The weight of the burden was heavy and must have been at least a hundred or more pounds. I felt like I had the world on my back.

I was crying and calling out for help.

I was waiting to hear my mom's voice to help me, but no voice came to comfort me. My hands were filthy, covered with dirt and blood. From what I knew, my hands hadn't been cut or anything. My shirt was splattered with blood. I could feel the warm blood trickling down my side, but once again, I wasn't the one bleeding.

I was trying to run, but I kept on falling and stumbling. I could hear howling of blood thirsty animals pursuing after me. I was sweating like mad and I knew my life was going to end soon.

Smelling the stench of blood and sweaty me, made me nauseous and a couple times I had to pause and throw up.

The woods were spinning and my head was pounding. I had no sense of direction; I was just plowing through the woods.

Then I heard the sound of baying and howling getting closer. I picked up my pace. Trees clawed my face, while roots and snares grabbed at my legs. The wind shrieked its blood curdling scream, and I wondered if these forests were cursed with the undead. While the trees chattered and whispered like spirits, the vines around the trees seemed to coil around my arms.

I tore away from the vines, gritting my teeth, I kept on running. That was, until from nowhere, a big black dog with red eyes and red teeth jumped in front of me, blocking me from where I wanted to go to. The dog had massive muscle and was built like a greyhound, yet the animal was shaggy and moved like a cat, waiting to pounce.

Before I had time to draw my rapier, the hellhound jumped forwards at me, its big mouth wide open.

I felt myself collapse to the ground; the sharp fangs of the hound were being imbedded into my brain. Deeper and deeper they went down into my head.

I bolted up in bed and screamed.

My pillow was drenched in sweat and I myself was sweaty.

I had screamed because Mallory had lightly touched my head with her hand. Mallory had jumped back and also screamed.

"What! What!" I screamed, my head frantically looking around. My mind was doing one eighty jumps faster than you could say 'hellhound'. I screamed and then yelled, "HELLHOUND!"

Mallory screamed and clutched her hair.

River bolted up, she began to scream too. "You're dying! Where is Sora, where is Sora?!" She screamed.

We all screamed for a few more minutes. Flashbacks of my dream came to me. I was dying.

After about two minutes of screaming, the door flew open and three silhouettes stood there.

Mallory screamed one last bloody murder scream and then collapsed to the floor.

Ben, Sora, and my dad came in.

"What's wrong, Eve?!" Said my dad. His face was serious, and he was still in his work outfit. He had dark shadows under his eyes and even more facial hair.

Ben and Sora stood looking wide eyed at us girls.

"Hellhound!" I shriek.

I was losing control. My body was trembling and my stomach was in knots. I could actually feel myself going madder and madder with insanity.

I crossed my eyes and began to rock myself, having no control over my body. I screamed and shouted words in ancient Greek.

My dad rushed to my side and put his arm around me. "Evangeline!" he said soothingly.

I felt like something had crawled into my ears and was now gnawing my brain away. "Dude! It was just a dream!" Wailed Ben, trying to be comforting.

I stopped rocking back and forth. I looked at Ben. Suddenly, my body and jaw went slack as I fell to the floor.

I heard Sora say to Ben, "Listen, Ben, for a half-blood, a dream isn't just a dream…" He paused and bent down to examine me. I was conscious, but I couldn't move or talk. "Dreams of a half-blood child tells them their future."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 I'm on the high way to doom

I sat up. My eyes heavy and my mouth dry.

It was sunny outside, and I had been lying down rather peacefully. There were no birds chirping, but that was okay with me. I felt pretty good. I didn't know what happened that morning or why I had gone mad. Or maybe it was still morning.

I opened one of my eyes.

Sora was sitting down in a corner with a book on… thievery… Blockhead, where'd he get that book? Did he steel it?

"Who's that written by?" I demanded.

Sora looked up. He had reading glasses on. He looked really nerdy with them on, but at least he wasn't wearing the ugly hipster glasses.

He blinked and then smiled his sparkly obnoxious smile at me. I glared at him. "'Bout time you woke up, Sleeping Beauty! It's nearly four o'clock in the afternoon!"

I thought about what he called me. Sleeping Beauty? Hm, that was a lot nicer than what I usually called Sora. "Well?" I snarled irritably. "Who wrote that book?"

Sora looked at the book. He grinned a mischievous grin and said, "Dad gave it to me as a gift. He wrote it himself."

"You little blighter," I grumbled.

Then it hit me how long I had been out. My eyes widened and I darted out of my bed before you could say jackknife.

Sora followed after me, and then I abruptly stopped, making Sora run into me. I turned and said, "Why were you watching me while I was asleep?"

Sora scratched his head and said, "Oh, we were all taking turns watching you."

Not convinced, I sulked down the hall and into the living room. Ben and River were playing the Wii and granddad was telling Mallory more chick flick stories. Dad was on the sofa with a laptop and a bunch of papers. Everyone stopped what they were doing to gaze at me.

"What?" I asked. Why were they all staring at me?

Two people spoke at once. Dad said: "You were having a seizure." At the same time River said: "Someone possessed you."

I shuttered. I wanted to believe my dad was right, that I was just having seizure. But the truth lurked in the back of my mind. I had been possessed by something.

"I… was… possessed…" I said slowly.

Dad stood up from the sea of papers and came to me. "You were _not_ possessed, sweetie!" Then dad gave River the look of doom, which was him frowning while his right eyebrow twitched lightly upwards.

River gave me a sympathetic gaze. "Think about it," River whispered quietly. "At the last moment of your possession, you just went completely slack. You were paralyzed after the thing left your body."

"Why'd I got nuts? Like does everyone go nuts when they get possessed?" I inquired.

Mallory said grimly, "There's a reason why people go mad when they get possessed, Evan. It's not easy to fight off another mind. While you're trying to hold onto your sanity and your own mind, another mind is trying to kick your mind out. Also, your body can't tolerate two minds in one body. The body is used to obeying only one mind. When there are two minds trying to control one body, well, that's why your body starts going crazy."

We all stared at Mallory. Mallory shrugged and said, "What? It's just a theory!"

"Whoa, Mal, where'd you read that up?" Murmured Ben.

"When I fell to the floor, was that when the thing stopped possessing me?" I continued. I wondered how long Mallory's brilliant theories would last.

Mallory thought and then said, "Yes. When you fell to the floor, the other mind stop possessing you. Your mind was so tired from the fight with the other mind, that it, that is your mind, I don't know, stopped working? That's why you fell to the floor. Your mind was so exhausted from fighting away the other mind."

"You mean to say that Evan's mind is strong enough to ward off another mind?" Asked Sora.

Mallory shook her head. "I don't think her mind is that strong to ward of another mind," she mused softly. "I think the other mind left her. I don't think that mind was very strong."

"What do you mean?" I demanded.

"I mean that the other mind left you, and all you did was faint. You were lucky there. If that mind had been strong enough to take over your mind, it would have used your mind and its own to control you. Then when that other mind left, it would have left your mind mentally insane, because it would be used to being controlled by another mind," Said Mallory. Her face was dark, and there was no trace of a smile on her face.

River spoke for the first time. "Can we not talk about possessions? This is creepy!"

Dad said firmly, "I don't believe Eve was possessed. Only a demon can possess a person, and that demon won't possess a person if the person has the Lord dwelling within them."

"What if… what if it wasn't a demon possessing Evan?" Asked Sora.

Dad shifted his dark look on Sora. He said in a dangerous voice, "What do you mean, Son of Hermes?"

Sora's eyes went wide with fear and he stuttered, "I-I-I was just, um, saying, like… what if it was a god toying with us. Like magic."

Dad's catlike eyes wavered a little and then relaxed. He rubbed his eyes and let out a tired sigh.

Something struck me. "Guys," I said in a quiet voice, as if we were all being listened into by someone or something. "What if that thing comes back and possesses me?"

No one spoke. And for once, I felt a fear that I'd never felt before. Not the fear of being scared, nor the fear of feeling nervous. But a fear that feels like it has been there all my life. A fear that _isn't _feeling scared or nervous.

Mallory did not reply.

I licked my lips. "Ok-ay, guys, I think it's time to hit the road!"

I went to the sofa where dad was sitting. I took his laptop and began to search for trains that would take us somewhere.

After a while of no good luck, it began to grow dark. I didn't want to stay another night at home. I loved gramps and dad, but I was eager to finish this quest.

I was beginning to get frustrated. It was now seven o'clock and I still hadn't found a good transporting bus or train.

Finally I slammed the laptop close and stomped off to the tree house.

To my surprise, Sora was in the tree house napping; his thievery book was on the floor

I had this urge to shove Sora off the sofa and then laugh, but I restrained myself. To take my mind off the urge, I picked up the book. A little card slipped out from the book. I picked it up. It was a little hologram thing. I hated holograms. They always gave me a headache.

I glanced at Sora and couldn't help but think how nice he looked when he wasn't arguing with me. His black hair was stirring slightly from the fan and he was breathing lightly. I couldn't help but smile at the peaceful blighter. Another urge I had was to mess with his hair. It looked like a big fluffy black cloud. I clinched my hands to suppress the urge.

I couldn't decide what to do. Wake him up? Or keep staring at him like a total creep. I wasn't quite sure how he would react to me waking him up. Then all the sudden, his peaceful face frowned slightly. His face began to look troubled and dark.

_What a face_! I thought to myself.

Unable to move, I kept staring at his face that was rapidly turning madder and darker. He began thrash around a little. "S-Sora?" I whispered quietly. He didn't seem to hear me, because he kept thrashing around. Sora moaned something like, "I'm so cold…" His face went slack and he whispered, "I don't understand, Evan…" His face went pale and his face was expressionless.

"D-don't understand what?" I said. I was beginning to be a little frightened.

Sora didn't reply. His breathing was slowing down. After about five seconds he took a shallow breath of air.

"Sora, wake up!" I said urgently. I went to his side and violently shook him.

Sora sat up and gasped, "What?!"

I took a deep breath. I realized that I wasn't breathing properly while Sora was thrashing around. I collapsed next to Sora and rambled, "You were having a bad dream! You started looking scary and you started to thrash around! You mumbled something about being cold and not understanding and you said my name!"

I stopped because I realized that I had given myself away.

Sora looked wide eyed at me. "You—you were watching me while I was... _asleep_?!"

I blushed and quickly shoved Sora's book into his lap. "You know, let's just forget about your nightmare," I stammered.

Sora's eyes were still wide. "You were…" the voice died down.

I handed him the little card that was in his book. "Here, this fell out of the book that you dropped," I mumbled.

Sora looked at the card and then something clicked in his mind. "Bingo!" He said.

"What?"

"Read this," Sora said triumphantly. He shoved the little card in my face. He tilted it to the side so I could read it.

"The Her mass espresso. Farstest espresso yogurt'll ever fnid. Washing machine DC to in fifty and bayud," I read. I looked at Sora, my face troubled. "You want to go get coffee with me?"

Sora shook his head in annoyance. "The Hermes Express. Fastest express you'll ever find. Washington DC to infinity and beyond!" He said proudly. His face drooped a little and he confessed, "Actually, mom read it for me. I'm dyslexic too… Anyway, the train's HQ is in Washington DC and its route is to LA."

"What's so special about LA?"

"LA is where the Underworld is at. The Hermes Express usually contains dead spirits that go to the Underworld. You know, one of dad's businesses is to guide spirits to the Underworld. Hope you're not afraid of ghosts."

"Have you ever ridden on the train?" I asked slowly. I wondered if I was intruding on personal property.

Sora's face darkened a little. "Once… when I was on my way to camp."

I started, "But you're from Manhattan. Couldn't you just go to Long Island like that?" As I said 'like that' I snapped my fingers.

Sora said slowly, "Well, I was born in Manhattan… but I lived in DC before I went to Long Island."

Having the mind on espressos, I asked, "Do you want to go get coffee with me?"

"What?" He said. He looked as startled as when I said I had been watching him.

I smiled at him. "Drinks on me," I said firmly.

Sora and I had to squeeze in a booth with two strangers. The booth was maybe made for two people, but the coffee shop was packed tight.

"Ugh," I snarled. "One would think people wouldn't want coffee in the middle of summer!"

"It's not summer yet. It's just near the end of May, Evan," corrected Sora.

Glaring at my coffee cup, I complained, "Whatever! It's still warm outside!"

The teenage boy and girl across from us stared at us. They were wearing cheap gangster clothes and the girl had plastic jewelry that maybe a six year old girl would wear.

"What are you two looking at?" I snarled at them.

The boy had eyeliner and dyed black hair. He was wearing fingerless gloves and a skull ring. He had big clunky chains around his neck. The girl had purple hair and had way too much eye shadow on. Her earrings were big and heavy, making her earlobes sag under the weight.

"Ugh," Grunted the boy. He looked at Sora.

Sora didn't say anything, but his brown eyes pierced into the dull blue eyes of the boy.

"I don't like your attitudesss…" the girl hissed. I could have sworn a forked tongue flicked out of her mouth.

My eyes went wide. "Whoa," I whispered to Sora. "D-did you see that?"

Sora looked at me. His face told me 'yeah I totally saw that', but he said, "See what?"

I didn't know how to reply. Sora's face got composed and within a second, his face was clueless and stupid looking.

Under the table I could feel Sora grasp my hand tight. "Well, I'm done!" Sora said loudly. "You done, Evan?"

My gaze was still on the two teens. "Yeah…" I mumbled.

Without warning, Sora jumped up and dragged me out of the booth. Then the punk guy quickly grabbed my other arm and pulled. "They're godlings!" Shouted the guy.

Sora kept pulling my right arm and the other guy was tugging at my left. "Uh, Sora, we're not getting anywhere!" I moaned.

Sora's face lit up, and I had a bad feeling that he had just gotten a crazy idea. Then his face hardened and he shouted out angrily. "Let go of my girlfriend, you twit!"

People turned to look at us. Sora nodded encouragingly at me. I finally got what he wanted to do. I shouted out, "Let go of me! I said I'm not dating you anymore! Let go… uh… Marcus!"

All the sudden, I was glad that I took acting classes through the summers. I began to fall apart and cry. "Why do you keep stalking me? I told you I'm not with you anymore! Please, someone help!" I screamed. Breathing fast I pretended to faint. Of course, the ugly punk/gangster dude and Sora were both holding my arm, so I didn't fall to the floor. I cracked my eye open so I could see what was going on.

Sora yelled dangerously, "I said back off! She's mine!"

The punk-dude looked a little shocked and let go of me. I slumped to the floor, and Sora dramatically caught me as I fell.

"What's the problem?" Said a man with an apron on. He looked like he was the owner of the store.

Sora looked up at the man and said, "He was trying to steal my girl," At this, Sora pointed an indignant finger at Marcus. "I was just simply trying to get her back. Sorry for the yelling."

The man nodded. "Now look here!" He said angrily at the punk dude. "If the girl doesn't want to go with you, then don't force her. This is a free country and we don't force people to do what they do not want to do."

Sora ran his fingers through my hair. I had a temptation to swat his hand away. "It's okay, Evan," He murmured comfortingly. "Uh… Mark—I mean Marcus isn't going to take you away."

Like magic, I woke up from my faint. Being dramatic, I fluttered my eyes open. I smiled and said in an airy voice, "Oh that's good! Let's go, Sora!"

We both stood up. Sora put his arm around my waist in a very protective way. Then he gave a death look at Marcus. I tried my hardest to look like a ditsy teenage girl with the stupid brain dead look.

Sora nodded curtly at Marcus and then nodded politely to the man in the apron. The man in the apron nodded back and went back to work.

Sora and I turned abruptly and began to quickly march out of the coffee shop. But before we had time to leave, I heard the girl hiss at me, "We will meet again, godlingsss!"

Once we turned the corner, Sora let go of my waist and scowled. "That was ridiculous."

I mumbled, "Wasn't me who came up with the idea."

Sora snorted an irritated snort. "Yeah, yeah, whatever!"

"Any idea who the punks where?"

"Monsters."

"Why did you act like they weren't monsters at first?"

"Because didn't you notice that it took them a few minutes before they realized that we were demigods? That's because we have a light scent. I had a bit of a feeling that they were monsters, but I didn't want you freaking out and going crazy."

"What about the last bit?"

Sora hastily said, "Nothing."

I glared at Sora who was refusing to make eye contact with me. "So," I started. "Why are we going on The Hermes Espresso?"

"_Express_," Corrected Sora.

I had this bad habit of reading something incorrectly and then starting to say the words incorrectly.

"Yeah, whatever!" I snarled.

Sora replied back, "The Hermes Espresso—great now you've got me saying espresso!" He stomped his foot in frustration.

Stifling my laugh, I said, "C-continue!"

"The Hermes _Express_ can take you to places other than LA, like if you wanted to pick up a dead soul in Seattle, but it costs a LOT of golden drachmas to go off course," said Sora with enthusiasm.

I thought of my money. "Do they take—"

Sora cut me off and said, "Nope, they don't take money. Only drachmas."

I thought about how many drachmas we would need. I had about thirty. "How many drachmas do you have?"

"Ten," replied Sora evenly.

"That's not going to be enough to go off course…"

Sora smiled a confident smile, "The Espresso—"

"You mean express?"

Sora glowered at me. "The Express has stations pinpointed all around the USA. On the route to LA that is. Anyway, also I'm the son of Hermes. They'll let me and my friends go on for free. Oh yes, one last thing, hope ya don't mind getting up early."

Early was the right word. Sora had made us all go to bed at nine o' clock, so that we could wake up at the ungodly hour of five in the morning. He had also made us pack up before we went to sleep. Of course, we were all too excited to actually _go to sleep_, so we didn't actually go to sleep until elevenish.

Four sleep deprived zombies (AKA Ben, Mal, Riv and I) and one human that we'd all like to murder (AKA idiot Sora) sat in silence munching on eggs and bacon and taking sips of life in a cup (AKA coffee).

My brain was usually slow in the morning. And I'm usually pretty cranky in the morning. Especially when I'm waking up at five in the morning. What time was Sora planning to leave? Five fifteen? Not happening, dude, not happening. It takes at least ten minutes for the coffee to start doing its thing, and another ten minutes for my crankiness to wear off.

Sora bounced up and said, "Anyone want more eggs?"

I glared at Sora. He had gotten up at four thirty to shower, pack snacks, and cook us all breakfast. Dad usually went to bed at around four. Apparently the Hermes children were early birds AND night owls, claiming that there was so much to do, they didn't need near as much sleep as us other campers.

Gramps came into the kitchen and said, "Save me some eggs! And put two more slices of bacon in the pan!"

Sora nodded importantly and rushed to the pan. He began to crack eggs into the hissing pan and put more slices of bacon into the pan as well.

After breakfast, we all finished getting ready and granddad packed us some more snacks and burnt peanut brittle. He was going to take us down to DC and see us off on the train.

On the way to Washington DC I fell asleep. Actually, everyone but gramps fell asleep.

I had a bad dream where we were in the creepy grave yard again. The grave yard with the four creepy kids around a creepy grave stone. I was watching the kids, just like I had done the first time dreaming it. It felt a bit like déjà vu. Like I had dreamed this dream, but right now, I wasn't quite sure if I really had dreamed this dream. My dream froze, everything stopped moving. Rain drops froze from falling and the lightning that had just struck, froze. It looked like a photo. Everything was so still and eerie.

Then I began to wake up a little. I opened my eyes a little; my eyes were blurring and misty. I was drooling a little and my head was resting on… Sora's shoulder… Gagging on my own drool, I quickly sat up, banging my head on Sora's cheek. Apparently, I had been using Sora's shoulder as a prop and he had been using my head as a prop. Sora yelled and I yelped. Then we both began cat fighting, yelling at each other and saying that it was the other person's fault that we got hurt.

"You drooled on my hair!" I yelled indignantly.

"You drooled on my shirt!" Sora pointed to a wet puddle on his shoulder.

I shoved my hair in his face and said, "YOU DROOLED ON MY HAIR, BLOCKHEAD!"

Sora retorted back, "If you hadn't used my shoulder as a prop, NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED, YOU FREAK!"

"Guys!" Shrieked Mallory. Sora and I fell into silence, refusing to look at each other. "Stop it! If you two have a problem with each other, then why don't you two switch seats?! Ben, why don't you let Sora have shotgun?"

Ben looked behind his seat to stare at us. Ben looked and me, and then his eyes bugged out. He started, "Whoa, no, no, no, no! I am not sitting by Evan! This is a clean shirt!"

Mallory went red with anger and then she said, "Ben, that shirt is not clean! That's your third time wearing it! I'll trade spots with Sora! Mr. er… Granddad Smith person… dude, can you pull over so Sora and I can trade spots?"

Sora looked out of the window. He's eyes widened and he said, "We may not have to trade spots. Look!"

Being ADHD, I forgot about the fight and leaned eagerly over Sora to see what it was. "What, what, what?!" I said enthusiastically.

Sora pushed me to the side and snarled, "Get off me, One-Eighty! You can see perfectly fine without trying to kill me!"

I looked out of the window. We were pulling up into a parking lot. Off in the distance, I could see some trains.

We all got out of the car and grabbed our backpacks. "Do we have train ticket?" Asked River sleepily. She had been fast asleep when Sora and I fought

"We shouldn't need any…" Said Sora. He sounded a bit nervous and a little scared.

Granddad gave us all hugs and then left.

The sun was high up and was already warming up the earth. Really strange weather. I couldn't believe it was this warm in DC.

Sora was leading the way. He veered sharply to the left and then sharply to the right. Before we knew it, a big sparkling white train was right in front of us. It was so big and white, I was a little nervous. The train had a glistening sky blue band and a shiny yellow lightning bolt. In big bold black capital letters, that even I could read just fine, the train read: THE HERMES EXPRESS. Below it smaller bold words read: Fastest Express you'll ever find. Below that, it had the quote from Buzz Lightyear: To infinity and Beyond.

"Does that quote ever bug you guys?" I murmured.

River's eyes were hungrily gazing at the bold text. "No… why?" She said in a dazed manner.

"Because what's the point of infinity if you can go beyond it…?" I mumbled back. This train was enchanting. It was so beautiful I felt stupid just being next to it.

"What?" Said River, trying to tear her eyes away from the train.

"Nothing…" I sighed.

The train doors opened and beckoned us to go in. Sora snapped out of the trance first and said, "C'mon guys! Let's go!"

We all hurried abroad the train.

The inside was as fancy as the outside. Brilliant white seats shimmered in the LED lights of the train. The air in the train smelled of fresh mint. There weren't a lot of people on the train… in fact, I wasn't quite sure if those people were people… they looked kind of… well dead. They looked almost like normal people, but if I looked at them long enough, something was seriously wrong with them. They were transparent.

A man in a white conductor's uniform came to us. He had brown slicked back hair and shiny brass buttons on his uniform.

He looked a little startled and said, "Y-you're not dead! You're godlings!"

Ben raised his hand and said, "Actually, I'm a satyr."

The man didn't look at Ben. He just stared at us. "Do you have tickets?"

"Um, Mr. Vic, I'm Sora Fleming… I believe I was here once about… twelve years ago," Said Sora quietly.

I giggled a little and then stopped myself. No wonder he never told us his last name. Fleming? Seriously, what a joke. "How come you don't have a Japanese last name?" I said before I could stop myself. I clasped my hands over my mouth and whimpered and apology.

Sora glared at me, and didn't reply.

Mr. Vic, who I guess was the dude with the slicked back hair, said, "Sora Fleming… it sure has been a while." Mr. Vic surveyed Sora's face and height. "You've grown quite a lot! Your hair is still untidy as ever…" Mr. Vic's gaze fell upon us. "Do they have tickets, son of Hermes?"

Sora took a deep breath and said, "Please, they're riding with me. Don't charge them."

Mr. Vic sighed and said, "Darn it's a good thing the other Hermes's children haven't found this train! Find a seat…"

Sora's face brightened and he said, "Thank you so much!"

Mr. Vic sighed again and said, "Don't mention it. Your dad would kill me if he found out that I'd kicked out one of his sons in his train, and I'm not just saying that because I know he probably has security cameras 'round here and is watching us at this very moment!" Mr. Vic hastily looked around the train, trying to spot a security camera.

I did the same, but I couldn't see any cameras.

"Can you stop in Texas? Dallas preferably. That's where we need to get off," Said Sora politely.

Mr. Vic nodded slowly, looked around nervously, and said, "Can do."

I was careful not to sit by Sora, just in case there were security cameras watching us.

Sora held up part of seat belt and said, "Uh, guys, you may want to strap in…"

Ben took the other seat belt part and handed it to Sora. Sora strapped the belt together. "Why?" Inquired Ben.

Mallory handed River one of the belt parts. (I was squished between Mal and Riv) River likewise strapped the belt together. "Why?" River also demanded.

Sora smirked. "This train isn't called The Hermes Express for nothing."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 Hot off the catwalk, baby**

The train ride only felt like five minutes. Not enough time to figure out what we'd do in Texas. Not enough time to figure out how this train worked. Not enough time to think properly.

Imagine if you were on a roller-coaster. A coaster that had just gotten the full momentum of a drop off. That's pretty much how this train felt.

Everything outside was a complete blur. A mixture of green, blue, yellow, and brown whizzed by.

After about five minutes we came to a dead stop. Through a microphone we heard someone say, "Dallas Texas! Next stop LA California!"

After the coaster feeling left and the sudden stop happened, I felt nauseous and thought I might throw up.

River unbuckled our seatbelt and bounced up. "Who held their hands up in the air?!" She bellowed in a happy voice.

"I think I'm going to throw up…" I mumbled. I tried to stand up on weak legs, but the gravity pushed me down to the seat.

Ben came to my aid and hoisted me up to my feet. Leaning on him I said, "I do not feel good…"

"Hurry up, brainy, before we get left on the train!" Snarled Ben, who I take it wasn't really happy to have me leaning against him.

"Want some ambrosia?" Asked River. I didn't object to River fishing around in her backpack and pulling out a Ziploc bag of ambrosia. She opened it and handed me some ambrosia. I crammed it into my mouth and instantly felt better.

Ben meanly shoved me aside and mumbled some mumble jumbo at me.

We all got out of the train.

All the sudden, I wondered why I had ever thought DC was hot. This air was hot AND humid here!

"Man, I forgot how hot it was here!" Complained River. She began to fan herself with her hand.

"River, how hot does it get here in the summer?" Moaned Mallory, her face was pink and sweaty.

"Ah, it's just the start of the cruel heat, darlin'!" Grinned River.

Mallory and I exchanged worried looks. River's grin wavered and she said more seriously, "Just drink enough water to keep you from dehydrating and you'll be fine."

Not only was the weather hot, it was in the afternoon. Like late afternoon. We got onto the train maybe about twelve thirty or so, but now it was six thirty or so.

"Whoa! What—dude!" I exclaimed.

Sora seemed to understand what I was getting all excited about. "Evangeline," Sora started. I started; I wasn't used to being called Evangeline by my friends. "The reason it's in the afternoon is because it took six hours to get here. But it felt like six minutes. Every minute is an hour on the espresso."

"Espresso?" Questioned River.

"Inside joke," I giggled.

"It is _NOT_ an inside joke!" Snarled Sora, who was glaring at me.

"Whoa, it took six hours? That's not very fast," Commented Ben.

"It's fast compared to how long it would take a normal train," Sighed Sora. He looked exhausted and he had shadows under his eyes.

That's what happens when you wake up too early.

As if reading my mind, Sora glanced at me and said, "You look tired. Bet that's what happens when you wake up too early."

I wanted to retort back that I didn't look half as tired as he did, but I was tired and nothing came out of my mouth but, "Let's go find something to eat…"

For the first time, I took a look at my surroundings. The train was out of sight and we were left in the streets of Dallas. Some people were wondering around, most of the people had business suits and briefcases and were heading homewards.

I saw a tall building that looked like a golf ball on a very tall tee. There were some more buildings that were built in odd shapes. Even though they were built oddly, I enjoyed the architecture.

"When does A-Kon start?" Prodded River.

"Day after tomorrow," Replied Sora airily.

"Whoa, will we get to cosplay?" Questioned River.

Sora shrugged. "Sure. Who do you guys want to cosplay as?"

"River Song!" Demanded River.

"Kyoko Mogami!" Requested Mallory.

"Um, I'll just be Benjamin Saints if that's cool with you guys…" muttered Ben.

"Uh, wait, just where do you think you're going to get all this stuff—" I paused because at that moment, Sora gave me one of_ the_ most mischievous smile ever.

"Why are you giving me that look, Evan?" Inquired Sora.

"Oh gee, I don't know why, let me think about it," I put on a stupid face and looked up to the sky. "You guys all want to cosplay… you don't have the money for it… I'm with a Son of Hermes… and the blockhead Son of _Thievery_ has this evil mischievous smile right now… I don't know why I'm giving you a glaring look!"

I looked back at Sora. He still was giving me an obnoxious smirk.

Mallory quickly stepped into the scene before anything bad could happen. "Evan! Can you share your money with us?! Please, please, please!" She whimpered.

She looked at me.

Her big blue eyes were sparkling and her puppy dog face was adorable. "Uh… um…" I mumbled awkwardly. I knew she could charmspeak, I just didn't know how to say 'no' to the charmspeak.

For once my friends didn't yell 'yo, watch out, she can charmspeak'. They just stood there and allowed her to hypnotize me. And I thought I was good at finding ways to take advantage of people…

"So, um," I said, turning away from Mallory. "We've got to find cosplaying outfits tomorrow… then we're going to, uh, A-Kon the next day… right?"

"Got a prob with that?" Mused Sora. He looked casually at his nails.

"Course I've got a helluva problem with that, you moron!" I snapped.

"Guys, chill out…" moaned Ben. He rubbed his eyes and turned away from us.

I glared at Ben and then turned to Sora. "Sora, I want to talk to you, c'mon." I grabbed Sora's wrist and started dragging him away from our fellow friends.

"Whoa, come back here!" Snapped River, as she quickly grabbed Sora's other arm.

Sora looked startled and shifted his gaze back and forth, from River to me. "Why can't she talk to me?"

"Because one of you is going to end up shooting the other, duh," Snarled River.

I was a little intimidated. River always seemed sort of easy going to me. The only time she scared me was when she was going on about Leo. Right now her hair was loose and her eyes dark looking. She glared at us as if she was blaming her bad mood on Sora and I.

Sora shrugged River off. "Don't worry, Rivs. Just a little short chitchat!" Sora said. His voice wavered a little. River raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips. She looked like an older sister, who's been sent out to watch over her little brother. In other words, she wasn't convinced.

"C'mon, blockhead."

"Coming, freako."

"They're so cute. They're arguing!" Mallory said. She clasped her hands together and made a purring noise.

Sora and I turned into a dark ally, and I let out my fumes. "Sora, we are NOT going to A-Kon!" I said slowly. I tried to sound calm about it, but I had said it with clinched teeth.

"Why not?" Said Sora. His lopsided mischievous smile had left.

"'Cuz we can't afford tickets and outfits, and we sure hell isn't going to steal the darn tickets, understand?" I hissed.

"But, Evan, we've got the money. The money from Chiron!"

I viciously grabbed Sora's shoulders and growled, "Look, if you must know, I have an idea what we're going to be using the money for!"

Sora looked startled at my sudden movement. His mouth moved, but nothing came out. I slackened my grip on Sora and sighed, "I have a feeling we're going to need it for—"

"Evan! Sora!" Called Mallory.

I rolled my eyes and let go of Sora. "DADGUM!" I snarled.

Sora padded me on the head and said, "Whoa, calm down, Evan."

Fuming, I stormed out of the ally. Glowing, I said, "What is it?"

Mallory looked nervous. She licked her lips and mumbled, "Ben says he smells monsters…"

My blood turned cold. So far, I hadn't met any monsters. I had only met one, and most of the time, I didn't know it was a monster. I glanced at Ben. His eyes were closed and he was sniffing the air, as if he was smelling the best gourmet food ever.

Timidly, I looked behind me. Nothing.

"Does the monster smell…" Began River nervously.

"Half-blood? Defiantly," Said Ben. Ben's eyebrows knitted together as he continued to sniff the air.

"Well? What are we waiting for?" Demanded Sora.

I glared at him. "What's your problem?"

Sora gave me an annoyed-know-it-all look, and started to do a bad imitation of me, "Use your brain, blockhead, sheesh!"

"Are you going to tell me or are you going to talk to me in riddles?" I said blankly.

Rolling his eyes, Sora replied hotly back, "If we go to a restaurant or a place with people, the monsters are less likely to get to us," Sora paused and then said wearily. "Di immortals, Evan, I thought you were smart."

"I don't think I want to talk to you anymore."

"Whoa, cool it, guys!" Said Ben urgently, as he came between Sora and I.

All the sudden, I realized something. I was missing my backpack. I glanced at Ben, to see if he was lugging two backpacks, but he only had one for himself.

"My—my backpack is gone! I left it on the train!" I started.

Everyone looked frantically around, as if that would help find my backpack that was most likely in LA by now.

"Okay, okay! D-don't panic!" Said River trying to sound calm and level headed.

"What did you have in it?" Asked Ben. Then he bleated and sniffed the air. "Coming closer…"

No one listened to Ben's comment about the monster. We were all too busy looking for my lost backpack.

"I-I-I had clothes, snacks, and toothbrush and stuff like that!" I said, not believing that I had forgotten it.

All the emotion of just learning that I was a half-blood, leaving home, being possessed, having an annoying thieve boy, who I seemed to like in despite of the fact that he was a blockhead, coming along, and every other little thing that was confusing or out of the picture, weighed down onto me, and I began to cry.

I looked at my friend for help, but they just gave me sad looks.

I went to Sora and rested my forehead on his shoulder. My hot tears splashed on the hot asphalt. "Sora!" I wailed, as if he could help. "Can't you contact The Hermes Express?!"

Sora awkwardly patted my back and said, "Uh, the only way to contact them is through The Ghost Network, and only ghosts and the Hades children can use that network."

"Can ghosts use network?!" Awed Ben.

Sora shrugged. Then he said, "Evan, what happened to the thing about not talking to me?"

My head shot up and I glared into Sora's eyes. I turned abruptly away and went to River. I rested my head on her shoulder, and unlike Sora, she gave me a hug.

"Here!" Said Mallory triumphantly.

I looked and rubbed my snot and tears away. Mallory was holding a backpack! But it was hot pink with neon flowers on it…

I raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I prayed to mom and asked her for a backpack with clothes and snacks and hairbrush stuff!" Said Mallory. She looked so pleased with herself.

I smiled a weak smile and took the backpack. I opened the backpack, expecting to see my clothes and stuff, but I gasped at what I saw.

I pulled out these disgusting skinny jeans that were sickly yellow. They were darker yellow; I guess what I would call rusty yellow. Not burnt orange, but rusty pukey mustardy yellow. They looked like they came straight out of the seventies, but they were darker. I wrinkled my nose and said, "Oh holly crud, you cannot expect me to wear this…"

Mallory looked shocked. "Evan! Don't say such things! My mom—"

I didn't listen to her. "What are these?!" I snapped, pulling out these red ankle breakers with glitter all over them. Then I pulled out a baby blue blouse that had ruffles around the neck. "I am not wearing any of this! To hell with this stuff!"

Mallory was turning pale. "Evan, mom—"

"MAKEUP!?" I shouted angrily. There was a huge bag of makeup. I was about to throw the makeup bag away, when all the sudden, my body froze and the bag of makeup opened on its own. Then all the little makeup pallets opened by themselves. The brushes rubbed themselves back and forth on the pallet, gathering up makeup on the bristles.

I looked at my friends for help. River looked like she was going to rescue me, but Mallory held her back. "Don't interfere, or she'll do the same to you."

Then the brushes swept over my face. This all took about ten minutes, of a constant brushing back and forth to get makeup, and then sweeping the hellish stuff onto my face. Something grasped my hair and quickly French braided it and putted flowers into the French braid. After that, there was a big flash of light and the next thing I knew was… I was wearing the ugliest clothes ever.

My friends stared at me. Sora's eyes were wide, Ben's mouth was open, Mallory looked sighed with annoyance, and River looked like she had bug up her nose.

"Am I… pretty or ugly?"

"We will let you be the judge of that…" Said Mallory. "Mama, please give her a mirror! A full length mirror."

Another big flash, and there was a mirror in front of me. The mirror looked like it could cost a thousand dollars; my attention was at this thing in the mirror.

I looked like I had come off the catwalk. "Oh. My. Gods… What did that witch of beauty do to me?" I screamed. The colours of the outfit matched with the makeup and everything, but I looked HIDIOUS! I had heavy eyeliner and heavy eye shadow. The eye shadow pointed at the end of my eyes, making it look like I was wearing a masquerade mask. I had red blood lips and red blood nails that matched my ankle breakers. My eyelashes were heavy with mascara. I wondered if I had fake lashes on.

Mallory quickly said, "Mom just got a little upset! You shouldn't have said that sort of stuff about her clothes choosing!"

"I am wearing ANKLE BREAKERS!" I screamed.

Mallory smiled weakly, "The good news is, mom made the ankle breakers durable. Meaning, you can run in them and you won't die! You won't get blisters or anything like that! They feel like sneakers, but they look like classy shoes! That is, if mom hexed them, then they may give you blisters, but you won't break an ankle if you fall!"

"I look like a fashion model out of a runway!" I shrieked. I tried to rub off the makeup, but it wouldn't come off. Then I tried to take the flowers of my hair, but those too wouldn't budge.

"Oh, that makeup won't leave you for at least a week, Evan. Don't provoke the makeup or it will last for a month!" Said Mallory. She sheepishly smiled. "Mom once took my makeup away from me for playing a prank on the Stoll brothers. Ohmygods, that was _so_ embarrassing. But seriously, Connor and Travis totally deserved it."

Sora seemed to tear his gaze off of me, and turned to Mallory. "Oh that time you teamed up with the naiads and got the Stoll brothers to look into the pond and then you pushed them into the water?"

Mallory smirked and evil smirk. For such a sweet cutesy girl, she had this evil streak. Liking Moriarty and playing mean tricks, really, what would happen next?

"They should know better not flirt with the naiads," Said Mallory in a superior tone.

The story would have been hilarious, but right at the moment, I was still gaping at how I looked.

"I look like Madonna…" I said. Each word lingering dripping form my mouth.

"A very modest Madonna," commented River.

The pants were so tight on me; they made my legs look like twigs. They were so tight, I had a constant wedgie.

The mirror vanished and I was left staring down the streets of down town Dallas.

I began to stiffly walk to my backpack. "What other stuff is in the backpack," I demanded.

"SPF 50 mud mask kit?" Mallory offered timidly.

I aimed a swiping kick at the backpack. "TO HELL WITH YOU!" Mallory quickly grabbed the backpack before I sent it flying across the street.

"Evan, keep the backpack. You might need it one of these days. This backpack is enchanted to keep producing more—"

"Crap?" I offered irritably.

Mallory stomped her foot and said angrily, "Do you want your eyes to be pecked out by doves?! Because I can totally arrange that to happen, Evan!"

"Girls, I think we should save the high school drama for later. Let's worry about running away…" Said Ben. He was starting to chew on his St. Cardinal cap.

Glaring at Mallory, I grabbed the backpack from her and slung it over my shoulder.

We made our way to a Mexican restaurant and got settled down. Some people did stare at me, okay, pretty much everyone gave me a weird look, but I tried to ignore it all.

I grabbed Sora's shirt and mumbled, "Sora, how bad do I look?"

Sora licked his lips and looked around. "Honest?"

I nodded.

"You look beautiful." Sora's face was expressionless.

I raised an eyebrow. "You're lying."

Sora's face twitched and then gave way. He grinned a lopsided grin and said, "You're right. You're getting better at reading body language."

I glared at Sora and said, "Okay, seriously. How bad do I look?"

"Honest?"

"Nothing but the truth, blockhead."

"You look Dorothy Gale with those red shoes. Except, Dorothy gone hipster."

I face palmed my face. "Let me guess… I don't pull off the hipster look…"

"Not really, sorry," Said Sora, trying to be comforting, but his voice still sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

I gritted my teeth and swore. "I hate everyone. I really hate Aphrod—"

Sora clapped his hand over my mouth and said hastily, "Don't say it! You'll end up having me look like some K-pop guy!"

"Key-pop?"

"_K_-pop. Korean Pop!" Corrected Sora.

I laughed and joked, "Okay, how do they dress? Effeminately?"

Sora didn't laugh. He slid into a booth and I followed him, and then River slid in next to me. "Big time effeminate. They usually wear guy liner."

I stared at him. "You're lying!" I declared.

Sora gave me an impish smirk, "I'll wager you on that one." Within seconds, Sora took out a little Smart Phone and began eagerly looking for something on the web.

Then Sora shoved the phone in my face. "Here."

I took the phone. It was a Youtube video. I clicked on the play button and before I knew it, really, really loud Asian pop music began to boom from the speakers.

Sora lunged for the phone and yanked it out of my hand. "You!" He turned on me, after he got the volume under control. "You have a natural talent for causing trouble!"

I crossed my arms. "I believe _you_ were the one who had the volume up on the first place!" I said reproachfully.

He glared at me for a couple seconds and then shoved the Smart Phone back into my hands. "Let's try that again!" He spat.

I hit the play button. This time, the music was much quieter. The music as a little strange. The singer's voice was in this monotone style and really high. The Asian guy looked like a girl, with too much bling-bling and too much eye liner. His hair was jelled and coloured dark blue. He was dancing in this box like room, with mirrors everywhere. All he did was make melodramatic movements and touch his face in a dramatic way.

"Doesn't that makeup smear?" I asked.

Sora shook his head.

At the end, the dude ended up dying this tragic death, which frankly didn't make much sense.

I handed the phone back to him and said, "So you're saying that if you made Aphrodite angry, she'd turn you into a K-pop star?"

Sora nodded his head.

Sneering I said, "You've got the flamboyance of a K-pop star."

Sora glared at me.

I stuck my tongue out at him and rolled my eyes upwards.

"What was that for?!" Sora asked crossly.

Sniffing snobbishly, I scoffed, "You live. You breathe. You are."

Sora turned away from me and gave a great sigh of annoyance.

A Mexican woman came up to our table and asked, "What can I give you today?" Then she noticed how young we all looked. Her eyes bugged out and she demanded in this scary voice, "Where are you parents?"

Ben's bottom lip trembled as he stared up at the woman with large eyes. His mouth opened, but Mallory cut him off and said, "I'm eighteen, ma'am…" Then she pointed at the startled me. "And she's nineteen. We're taking our younger siblings out to eat. A celebration for my older sister. She was in her first fashion show."

Sora was about to object to part about being the 'little siblings', when there was a bang under the table and Sora yelped. Mallory quickly said, "Anyway, I would like the taco salad."

The woman raised an eyebrow. She wasn't buying Mallory's story. "May I please see your ID?"

Mallory smiled a beautiful smile and said in this sweet honey tone, "Oh, ma'am, you really don't need to see my ID. It's just not worth it. Let's just take our orders right now."

Mal's voice was so nice sounding. So soothing and calm.

The woman shrugged and reluctantly said, "Alright…" Turning to us, she asked. "What can I get you?"

I looked hard at the menu. There were so many choices and not much time to decide. "I-I-I'll take the taco salad too! And… and I think I would like a fruit smoothie to go with it!"

The woman wrote everything down and said, "What flavour would you like the smoothie to be?"

I looked at the menu. "Tropical fruit!" I said with great confidence.

The woman gave me a slight evil eye. All the sudden, I became very interested with my nails. My face burned red as the woman glared at me.

The others gave their orders and soon the woman left.

"That lady—" Started Ben. Then I chorused in, "Scares me."

Ben looked at me and we gave each other a high five.

Mallory made a face and said, "I am so hungry!"

We all sat in silence, watching people go in and out. People bustled around with big steaming trays of food.

My tummy rumbled as I saw a big tray go by.

About thirty minutes later, a big steaming tray of food came to us.

It was finally our turn.

The scary lady set a huge taco bowl in front of me, filled with meat and salad. Then she handed me a smoothie with a salted brim.

As the lady left, we all began to eat.

I hadn't eaten in technically about thirteen hours or so. I was ravenously hungry as were my friends.

I had never believed that Mexican food could taste this good. Or maybe it was because I was so hungry. Dad had once tried to make chilly, but it came out more like hamburger soup.

I was about half way through the huge salad when I began to feel sleepy and full. What a delicious meal. I turned to my smoothie and took a long and grateful sip.

That's strange. The smoothie didn't really taste like a smoothie.

That was probably because of all the hot sauce on my salad. Probably burned my taste buds off, nothing too extreme.

I took another huge sip of the smoothie. Goodness, the smoothie sure was giving me a bad brain freeze. I smiled. It didn't taste very good, but it was a unique flavour. I was determined to conquer the odd flavour, so heck, I took another big sip.

Ben was about half way through eating his salad and said, "Uh, Evan? What's with the look on your face?"

I grinned while playing stare eyes with the smoothie. Determined not to look away from the smoothie, I said seriously, "This smoothie is giving me a hard time."

"Brain freeze?" Asked Sora.

I snapped my finger and said, "Yeah, baby."

River and Sora exchanged nervous looks.

"Are you guys feeling sleepy?" I murmured.

"Evan… why don't I take that drink away from you…" Said River soothingly.

She tried to take away my smoothie.

I slapped her hand away and yelled in a brawling manner, "I said I'm not dating you anymore! So get your fingers off my computer!" I smiled and took another large sip of this strange drink.

Belching, I pushed my plate away and layed my head on the table. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

I opened my eyes. My eyes were misty and blurry. There was some kind of monster in front of me. My friends were running slow motion towards the monster with swords. I blinked and tried to say something, but I blacked out again.

The next time I came around, I was a little more conscious. I was leaning against a brick wall and Sora was right in front of me.

He looked like he was trying to say something, but I couldn't hear anything. He looked worriedly at me and said something else.

He was looking at me is such a strange way.

Oh, I get it. He likes me. And he's trying to tell me he likes me.

My heart was racing and I got butterflies in my stomach.

He came a little closer to me. Was he going to kiss me? Should I perk my lips up and kiss him first?

I could hear my heart pound I my ears, as he leaned in for a kiss.

He really was going to kiss me. He raised his hand up to stroke my face and—SMACK! He flicked my forehead with his hand!

I staggered backwards. The flick felted like a hundred flicks at once. I took a couple steps closer to give him the ol' one two, but my butterflies where now roaring up in my stomach. Infact, they were coming up my throat and… I leaned over and threw up on Sora's shoes.

I blacked out for a third time.

This time, I woke up in a bedroom. It was a hotel suite. The fan was running gently, and the TV was on. My head hurt really badly. The light in the room was making my brain melt.

Ben was watching baseball and eating the remote. It must be a pretty intense game.

Sora was sitting next to me on the bed. He was staring at me. Then it accrued to me that he was sitting on my bed. Within a fraction of a second, I shoved him off my bed and snarled, "Get off my bed, you pervert! You tried to kiss me and then you flicked me!"

Sora got up and said in a triumphant way, "Oh ho! _So_! You remember that do you! You were so intoxicated, it wasn't even funny! Let me explain what really happen! You were leaning against the restaurant wall, and I was supposed to watch you to make sure you didn't do something stupid. What did you do? You did something stupid! You decided to purpose to me! And then you took a couple steps closer to me and tried to kiss me! What was I supposed to do? I flicked you! Then you decided you'd throw up on my shoes, you little drunkard!"

I retorted back, "Y-you're telling it wrong! You tried to kiss me!"

Sora sighed and rolled his eyes. "Whatever. But you might try and believe the person who wasn't drunk!"

I blinked. "I was not drunk."

Sora raised an eyebrow and snorted.

I thought about it. I wasn't. Was I?

"You drank about half of a strong tequila drink, you freak," Concluded Sora.

My mind still hurt. "T-tequila?" I asked, my voice shaky.

Sora thought about it. "Margarita," He finally said.

It hit me that I had not been drink a simple sweet smoothie but an alcoholic beverage. I wasn't even sixteen! What would my dad say?

Sora moved away from me and called out in the room, "Okay everyone! Now that the drunkard is sober now, let's have a meeting."

Mallory and River came into the room. They were wearing PJs and looked totally relaxed.

"Time for bed already?" I asked.

River and Mallory looked at each other, and Sora snorted again. "It's ten AM in the morning, stupid," Sora said.

My face turned red. I narrowed my eyes and snarled, "You… you weren't in the same bed as I was, were you?!"

Sora rolled his eyes and sighed, "Gods no. But you did decide to crash onto my bed. I had shared the same bed as goat boy." At that, he looked in Ben's direction.

Ben said back, "You were so squirmy at night. OH YEAH! HOMERUN!" Ben jumped up and did a little boogie.

I looked at the TV and a shock of enthusiasm came over me. I became excited as I yelled, "Did the Oklahoma Sooners win?!"

Ben stopped booging and looked at me. He raised an eyebrow and said, "This is baseball. Not football, Redneck."

I snorted and said, "Redneck? I'll have you know I'm a New York Giant fan."

Ben sat down and put his goat feet up on the coffee table and put his hands behind his head. "Oh congratulation, Giant fan," He said.

"Thanks!"

"You didn't catch Ben's sarcasm, did you?" Sighed Sora.

I glared at Sora with righteous angry eyes. Nostrils flared, I yelled, "I'm not talking to you anymore!"

In equal frustration, Sora yelled back, "Well I'm not talking to you!"

"FINE!" I snarled, my face growing redder and redder with anger.

"FINE!" Retorted Sora, with so much vigor, he toppled over from the chair he had been sitting in.

It would have been hilarious, if I hadn't been mad at Sora. And if I hadn't had this monstrosity headache.

Sora angrily got up from the floor sat back down in the chair. "Okay!" He said angrily. "Meeting time!"

River nervously pulled up a chair between Sora and I. Then Mallory got on the other side of me. She glanced uneasily at me from time to time.

"Ben!" Snapped Sora. "Turn off the dumb TV!"

"I can't…" Ben said. He gave a week silly grin at Sora.

"What do you mean—" Sora paused, because Ben held up a chewed up plastic thing. Sora's eyes bugged out and he shouted, "YOU _ATE_ THE REMOTE?!"

Sora got up from his seat and went to the TV. He began punch buttons on the TV. He mumbled something about wondering where the stupid off button was. Finally, Sora got fed up with trying to find the power button. He grabbed a bunch of plugs and yanked them out. The TV went blank and Ben wailed, "Dude! They were winning!"

"This is a meeting! Not a party, moron!" Sora snarled.

He stormed back to his chair and flopped into it.

I wanted to make some cutting remarks, but I decided to keep my mouth shut.

Then it accrued to me. How could we afford to stay in this hotel?

Sora breathed in and then let the air out. "The Order of Half-blood will begin…" He said calmly.

I snorted. The Order of Half-blood? Surely he jested. That sounded so… so… juvenile.

Sora shifted his dark look onto me. "Do you have something to say, Smith?" He said through gritted teeth.

I crossed my arms and glared at him, signifying that I wasn't going to talk to him.

He closed his eyes and continued, "We are not going to the San Jacinto monument. We go north tomorrow."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 the stupid wild goose chase begins.

But I wanted you guys to meet my dad!" Wailed River.

I tried to read Sora's face. His face was expressionless. I finally said, "Sora, that's going against Chiron's orders!"

He smirked at me. "Evan, remember what you said about rule breaking?"

"Chiron wanted us to go somewhere else. That was rule breaking. But now that we're going to start where we started from, that's just obeying the prophecy!" I fought back.

Ben put his index finger in his ear and wiggled it. "That did not make a lot of sense."

Sora studied my annoyed face. His eyebrows creased and he said, "Evan, we are going up north. There's something else I need to talk to you guys about."

I sulked.

I didn't like this 'go up north' idea.

It was so sudden. And I didn't like the idea because Sora thought of it first…

"Spit it!" Said Mallory. She didn't seem bothered by the idea of going north right away.

"We haven't been chased by any monsters. Doesn't that seem a little odd? Think about it, we've only been chased by one monster, once. That was a hellhound, and _only_ a hellhound. That doesn't bother you guys?" Said Sora.

We all thought about it. We really hadn't been attacked much. "Well," I started. "That's because we haven't done much. I mean, we only got into Texas last night. The monsters just haven't found us yet." I was feeling crabby and determined to constantly argue with Sora.

Sora turned to me. "Good point, Evan," mused Sora.

I beamed at Sora. He was finally agreeing with me. That was something that usually didn't happen. Especially at first thing in the morning.

"So," I boomed, trying to forget my fight with Sora, which wasn't really hard for me… I'm so ADHD. "Why this sudden urge to go up north?"

Sora leaned back in his chair and smiled. "Well, for starters, I found this!" Sora put his hand into his pocket and rummaged around.

We all waited.

He frowned and started to frantically check his other pocket. Then he got up and looked around his chair. "Any of you guys seen a little business card? I thought I put it on the coffee table and then put it in my pocket…" Sora pondered, as he kept looking around for the card.

Ben perked up and said, "Was the business card something about mortals?"

"Yes."

"Was the businessman named Titus Gunderson?"

"Yes."

"Oops."

"Yes… wait what—you did not—" Started Sora. He looked at Ben with huge eyes. Ben looked up at the ceiling and then belched.

"BENJAMIN!" Shouted Sora at the top of his lungs. "YOU _ATE_ THE BUSINESS CARD?!"

Ben whimpered and said, "The game was a scary game! It was just a piece of paper!"

"That was our ticket and clue to where we were supposed to go, moron!" Shirked Sora angrily.

"Ohh, I think I get it. Moriarty finally dropped a clue!" Mallory said enthusiastically.

Sora turned to Mallory and snapped his fingers. "Exactly," He said quietly. "The card said Titus Gunderson's Mortal workshop. Kenora Canada. But the idiot goat ate where the exact location was." At that, Sora shot Ben a dark look.

"See you memorized it!" Ben said, he grinned another silly grin.

Now it was my turn to butt in and stop the fight. "Save the fighting for when there are monsters, blockheads," I said in a bored voice.

Sora shifted his gaze onto me. I raised my hands in defense and said, "What? I didn't do anything."

"So… what are we doing today?" Asked Mallory casually. She tucked a lock of raven coloured hair behind her ear. She looked like she wasn't trying to be disappointed about not going to A-kon.

I laughed a hollow laugh. "Well first things…" I said slowly. "We need to go shopping for supplies."

Ben raised an eyebrow. "Like food?"

"Like clothes that are from this earth," I said back.

Mallory may have chosen to ignore the insult to the clothes, but her ears picked up on the words 'clothes'. "_Clothes_!" She shouted, her eyes sparkling a brilliant shade of green/blue. That's odd. I thought her eye colour was this deep rich blue.

I gave Mallory a sour look.

"I know _just_ the right kind of shops to go to! Dillard's, Macy's, JC Penn—"

"And just how do you think you're going to afford all of this?" I snapped.

Mallory turned this violent shade of pink. She turned to Sora for help, but Sora merely looked away from Mallory.

All the sudden, I wondered how we had paid to stay in this hotel and how we paid to eat at the Mexican restaurant.

I glared at Mallory and then at Sora. "What are you guys not telling me?"

Mallory gulped and said, "When I rummaged in the backpack mom sent you, I found the five thousand dollars in there. I assume she realized that was important."

I was happy to know that the Beauty Woman wasn't a total idiot, but mad that my friend used it without asking. Then again, I realized that I was being selfish with my money. I decided to tell my friends why I needed the money.

"Guys…" I said slowly. "I had a dream—"

"She had a dreammm, she had a drea-mmm!" Warbled Ben. He was singing the dream song from Tangled.

"Shut up, Ben," Sora said seriously. I had the feeling that Sora had read my body language and realized that I was feeling intense and scared. Or maybe he knew that dreams for a half-blood are no joke.

"When we were back at my house—before I was possessed, I had a dream where I had someone slung over my back. The person was bleeding to death and I was dying myself—" my voice faltered as I tried choke down a sob.

There was dead silence in the room. All eyes were on me.

"I have a feeling there's going to be a couple funerals by the end of this quest. That's why we need the money. For a proper barrel…" I muttered. The last words were like a curse.

I smiled a weak smile. "Let's go get some supplies with the money," I said calmly.

Mallory got up and trudged to another room. She came back with the bag of cash. She handed it to me and I thanked her. Then I opened the back and took out a wad of money. I tossed it to Sora and said, "How 'bout you and Ben get food supplies and we'll get new clothes."

Sora took the money and nodded.

Within a few minutes, Ben and Sora left the hotel to get food.

River had been silent this whole time. Her face was expressionless and her hair stirred from the AC.

Mallory went off to the other room and said she was going to shower.

"You okay, Rivs?" I asked.

She smiled and said, "Fine… if it makes you feel better… I think there is only going to be one funeral…"

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I had a dream a while back where we were in a graveyard and we were all crying around a gravestone…" River said. Her eyes were looking off into the distance.

All the sudden, my dream of us around the gravestone flashed into my mind. "Did… did you see what the gravestone said?" I asked nervously.

River sighed and shook her head.

We sat in silence, thinking about our dreams.

Then Mallory came out of the girl's room. When she opened the door, a wafted of perfume filled my nostrils.

She came out in a pretty green dress with pretty green heels. This time her eyes were defiantly brilliant green.

That was cool.

Eye colour that changes with every outfit you wore. Her hair was damp and she had the perfect makeup job. Her skin was as white as snow and her hair as dark as the night. Her cherry shaped lips were coated with red lipstick and—wait… why am I rambling on about how pretty Mallory looked? It's a waste of time and isn't really all that important… how on earth did she get her eyes to sparkle like that? What a pretty bag she slung over her shoulder… all the sudden, I became envious of Mal. She had everything I ever wanted. The looks the clothes—I slapped my face. I didn't have time to covet things that were useless and pointless. If Mal wanted to have the heavens and the earth make way for her that was fine by me, because I wasn't going to be bothered by it! I wasn't going to be bothered the fact that she's prettier than me.

River realized that she was still in her PJs. She seemed just as awestruck as I was when Mallory came out of the room. "I want a makeover and pretty clothes like you!" River demanded. She sounded like she was trying to compete with Mallory. Then River realized what she said and clapped her hand over her mouth. "Oh, I did not mean to sound so demanding!"

Mallory looked startled when River had demanded such clothes and looks, but when River seemed embarrassed about her demanding, Mallory smiled and said, "Sure!"

"Where did you get the clothes?" I said, my eyes hungrily looking at the pretty light green lace on Mal's dress.

Mallory glared at me. "Mom's backpack that she gave to you…"

"What?!" I said shocked. I looked at my clothes and said in an unfair tone, "But how come I got the bad stuff and you didn't?!"

Mallory smiled and said a low voice sticky voice, "Tell you what, I'll trade outfits with you…"

I raised an eyebrow. Just like that? "Game on, sister!" I said in the same tone at Mallory.

In a few minutes, there was a flourish of changing. I took the bathroom in the boy's room and Mallory took our bathroom. Then we had River exchange the clothes back and forth.

Hmm, I looked at myself critically in the mirror. The skirt was a little on the short side… it didn't look that short on Mallory. The heels were pinching my skin and felt more uncomfortable than the ankle breakers if that's possible. Thankfully the makeup had worn off in the night. I had a couple zits scattered on my face, and my hair was frizzy and messy as ever.

I opened the door and wobbled out.

Mallory was already out and ready. I took a good look at her… WHAT?!

Her hair was in a loose braid and her eyes colour had changed to a light honey brown. The jeans did not look uncomfortable on her, nor did the shoes. She had a light denim jacket on and a hipster looking bag slung over her arm. She still had the same makeover that she did earlier, but it looked good with her outfit.

She was crossing her arms and looking annoyed with me.

"Ready to go?" She asked in an annoyed voice.

I said quickly, "Wait, aren't we going to change back into our normal clothes?!"

She shook her head. "No."

"But… but… I can't go out like this! The dress doesn't go down to my knees!" I shouted indignantly. "Dad told me that I can only wear a skirt or dress that goes past my knees or is knee length!" I gathered up my dress bottom and pulled down, trying to make the dress longer.

Mallory looked irritated and snapped her fingers. I looked down. I was wearing brown leggings. "But it's hot outside!"

Mallory didn't reply. I thought about taking off the leggings, but I wondered if Mallory hexed them to stay on me. Fuming, I turned away from Mallory.

River came out of the girl's bathroom and said, "Ta-da!"

She was wearing a cute denim dress with red converse. She had a red polka dotted headband and perched on her nose were these hideous huge hipster glasses.

Mallory seemed so see how hideous they looked on River too. Her eyes widened and she pointed to the glasses and she hissed, "Where did you get that?"

River smirked. "The backpack. Look good on me?"

Mallory fumed and ran into the other room. Maybe she was going to burn the backpack. Instead, Mallory came out wearing aviators. They matched her outfit perfectly.

"Pretend I don't know you ugly ducklings…" Mallory snarled.

"I think I look good! Got any red lipstick?" Asked River.

"NO!" Snarled Mallory so fiercely that River jumped, making the glasses slide down the brim of her nose.

Mallory's first stop was in Dillard's. Please note how I said _first_ stop. Yes, that implies that we went to pretty much every store in the whole USA and probably the whole world.

She dragged us around everywhere. She felt like it was her duty to spray every stinky perfume on her body, and sample every makeup sampler. Mallory seemed to have forgotten why we were there. To pick some human clothes for ME.

Within an hour, Mallory seemed to remember why we were there. "Oh my goodness, Evan, have you chosen anything to wear yet? That's why we came, right?" She said her eyes wide.

I nodded.

Mallory dashed off and then came back a split second later. "How about this?!" She held up a peppermint dress. It was sparkly and had sequences at the bottom of a dress.

In a bad mood, I said back, "That's a _prom_ dress, Mallory!"

Mallory looked at it. "Actually," she said in a critical way. "It's a banquet dress."

"What's the difference?" I said, my head still throbbing from earlier this morning.

"What about a skirt?" Mallory offered cheerily, as she held up this short pink skirt.

"No!" I snarled. "I will choose my _own_ dress, thank you very much!"

"Dress? So you're wearing a dress?" Mallory said. She looked at me funnily with her head cocked to the side.

"I didn't mean to say dress! I meant clothes!" I said. "Where are the jeans?!"

River and Mallory looked at each other. Mallory beckoned me to follow her. I followed her for about ten minutes. I wondered if she forgot what we were looking for… again…

Soon Mallory led me to the blue jean section. I snatched a pair of plain dark loose blue jeans. "_This _is what I wanted!" I triumphed.

"How boring…" Mallory said. She didn't even glance at it.

I glared at Mallory. "It's called being practical… you should try it someday."

"This practical… what do you do with it?" Mused Mallory, as she picked up a pair of jeans that were three sizes too big for her.

I gave her the most powerful glare I had. "Mallory, why don't I choose some clothes for you, and then you can see what being practical is like!"

"No, no, I'm quite comfortable!"

I raised an eyebrow and glanced at the shoes and the wedgie pants. I wondered if she had a wedgie, but I decided I didn't need to be wearing a big frilly tutu at the moment.

"These shoes are killing me!" I snarled, looking down at my feet. The green shoes were cute, but they were too small for me and the heels felt awkward. It bothered me that the ankle breakers didn't hurt, but two inch heals? Good grief. "Sneakers. I need sneakers!"

Within ten minutes, I had picked out a practical outfit. Sneakers, jeans, a jacket, and a nice simply loose shirt that had the Hogwarts seal on it. Practical and comfortable.

Okay, so maybe we didn't go to every store in the world. Mallory did pop into Macy's and Kohl's and bought enough clothes and accessories to clothe all the poor people in the world. Basically, she bought a new wardrobe. By the end of the shopping, my feet were sore and I was burning up. I begged Mallory to take away the leggings, but Mallory refused.

Sora and Ben were already back at the hotel once we got to the hotel.

They were lounging about in the main room doing nothing. Well, Ben had the TV on and was watching baseball and Sora was reading a book.

Ben glanced at me and started laughing. Sora's eyes went wide and he said, "What are you wearing, Evan?"

"Those colours do not match! And the style doesn't match either!" Howled Ben. He pointed meanly at my dress and kept laughing rudely.

"Wow, if a guy says those colours don't match, then they so do not match!" Awed River.

Glaring at everyone, I stormed off to change.

After changing, I came out into the main room again. "Ahhh, these clothes are called practical clothes! And they are very comfortable!" I sighed as I plopped down next to Ben on the sofa.

"So," Said River slowly. "How are we getting to Canada?"

Sora looked up from his book and said, "The Hermes Express."

"We're going to go off course?" I asked.

Sora nodded and said back, "Yep."

"Got the money?"

"Nope."

"What are you planning to do?"

"Charmspeak my way in."

I glanced at Mallory. Mallory's face was pink and she did not look at me.

"Sora," I said in an annoyed voice. "What did you do this time?"

Sora turned to his book and said, "Sometimes, my dear, all you need to do is a little bit of bribery here and there."

I shot Sora an evil eye and then turned to Mallory. I snapped and yelled, "Mal, what did he bribe you with?"

Mallory blushed harder and said in a quiet mousy voice, "A new Gucci bag with a new iPhone five to go with it…"

"Mallory! You're not allowed to have phones! Camp rules!" River shouted.

"Sora has a smart phone!" Mallory said defensively.

"Sora is a thieving rule breaker!" Snarled River.

"Whoa, that hurt!" Said Sora in a hurt voice.

River turned on Sora. "That did not hurt! You're probably proud to be a thief!"

Sora sighed and shrugged helplessly.

Sora didn't seem to be very hurt by the cutting remark, so I figured he was just trying to cause trouble. Ben looked nervously at River and then at Mallory.

I banged my fist hard on the coffee table, making everyone jump a little. "Quiet!" I snapped. My temper was flaring and I was sick of this talk. "Let's just all try and cope with one another and get this stupid quest over with!"

Everyone stared at me for a couple seconds. Then Mallory turned away from River and said, "Fine."

The day passed on slowly. The tension in the air made it hard to breathe. Mallory and River both had ants in their pants, and I had butterflies in my stomach. I would occasionally try and doze off, but I would find myself staring up at the fan. Then I would walk into the main room and sit with Ben and watch baseball game after baseball game.

Finally, Mallory and River left to go look around and shop. Sora was in his room doing who knows what (most likely entertaining himself by dropping objects onto passerby's that were wondering the streets).

The sun was taking its time by lazily setting. I kept finding myself slowly dozing off while the TV blared. How could Ben sit and watch so much TV?

Finally about sixish, Sora came out of his room and said, "Who wants to go get some grub at the dining area down stairs?"

With a little too much enthusiasm, I bounced up and said, "ME!"

Sora raised an eyebrow and turned to Ben. "Wanna come and join us, Ben?"

Ben didn't reply for a couple seconds. His eyes were glued to the TV. Then he said, "Uh… no… why—why don't you guys go down and I'll just order room service…"

Sora glanced at me and I shrugged. I wasn't quite sure if you could get room service here, but knowing Ben, he probably will forget about room service and start munching on the pillows of the sofa.

Sora opened the door for me and told Ben we'd be back around six thirtyish. Ben simply nodded and yelled something about foul ball.

"Let's try not to get an alcoholic beverage this time, okay?" Sora said, as he punched the button for the elevator.

I started and said, "What? This place isn't going to sell fancy drinks!"

Sora rolled his eyes heavenwards and sighed, "You haven't seen this place when it's dinner time."

"Eh?"

"Nothing," Sora sighed heavily. He seemed like he was getting more and more irritated with me by the second. Why was he so irritated with me? What had I ever done to make him mad? I thought all the Hermes children got along with other campers!

When we got down stairs and into the dining area, I gasped. The dining area was huge. The tables had white cloth and salmon coloured napkins. The silverware was sparkly and the cups were filled with dark wine. Humongous shandaleare hung in the middle of the room, casting brilliant rays here and there. People were in fancy clothes and the children had bowties or big bows in their hair. All the sudden, I became conscious of my causal clothes.

"What? Is there are party?" I asked curiously.

Sora shook his head. "Nah, it was like this yesterday night when we checked in."

A man in a nice outfit came up to us and said, "Can I take you guys to your seats?" He would have looked very posh and elegant, if it wasn't the fact that he had one of the most strongest Texas twang I had ever heard.

Sora looked at the table and said, "Er… sure."

The man led us to a small table and laid down two menus. Then he asked, "What can I get y'all to drink?"

"Water," Sora said.

I was still marveling at the sheer beauty in this room. Sora nudged me and I quickly said, "Uh… what he said. Water please."

The man bobbed up and down and then hurried off.

I sat down a little stiffly. I still felt awkward around the people in posh outfits. I had nothing better to do than to play with my napkin ring and to keep gazing at the people eating delicate delights.

Then the man brought us our water in tall glass cups. "What can I get you guys for tonight?"

"I'll take the beef enchiladas," Sora said, his eyes were studying the menu.

I hadn't looked at the menu. As the man was scribbling down the order for Sora, I hastily looked at my menu and tried to decide what I wanted. "I'll take the fried chicken nuggets."

The man nodded and scribbled down my order. Then he left and said, "Your meal will be right up."

I took a sip of my water. The water in the class made little rays that danced on the tablecloth.

"So…" I said trying to break the awkward silence. "Is this like a date?" I said before I could stop myself.

Sora choked on the water and began to violently cough. "You seem to not understand the meaning of the word date," coughed Sora. "Date is where a girlfriend and boyfriend go out to dinner. A date is generally known as being a romantic. This is nothing but a—" Sora went into more fits of coughing.

"Date? Nothing but a date?" I tried to finish for him.

"_NO_!" Snarled Sora. "This is nothing but a mutual companion meal together!"

"That's a lot of words just to make that clear. Why not just… a meal together?" I asked innocently.

"FINE! A meal together. A meal together that isn't a date! A meal that—"

"Uh, Sora, you making kind of a ruckus and people are staring!" I hissed.

Sora stopped talking and turned crimson.

We were saved by the waiter who brought us our meal.

He set a steaming heap of fried chicken in front of me. A little bowl of gravy sloshed and spilled onto my chicken. The waiter murmured an apology and then handed Sora his food.

I enthusiastically stabbed my fork into the chicken and took a bite. The chicken was dark and kind of rubbery. Infact, it tasted a little rubbery. It tasted like old car tires.

I frown and said, "What… what _is _this?!"

Sora looked up from his enchiladas. His eyebrow was raised and he had his head cocked to the side in a very doggish manner.

I smacked my lips hoping that the taste of tires would leave my mouth. I coughed as the tire flavour started to burn my mouth. I gulped down water as my eyes began to water.

"What's wrong?" Asked Sora through a mouthful of enchiladas.

"There is something wrong with the fried chicken nuggets!" I choked.

I slid the plate toward Sora and Sora sniffed the chicken. "Evan!" He glared at me and said accusingly, "What is with you and picking the wrong kind of food?! This isn't fried chicken nuggets! It's fried chicken _livers_!"

Gagging, I choked, "What?! Liver?!"

Sora sighed heavily and scraped half of his enchiladas onto my plate (that is, after making room for them, without the enchiladas touching the liver). "Here. Eat this…" He said pushing my plate back to me.

How nice of Sora.

With a happy heart, I ate the enchiladas. Sora seemed more on the annoyed side, I guess that was because he had to share his enchiladas with me.

That night, I had the craziest dream that I have ever had. I dreamt that there were two Soras and they both looked alike. One of them was Sora Fleming and the other was some Sora I had never met. I was scared of Sora Fleming. He looked like Sora, he was dressed like Sora, and somehow I knew that he _was_ Sora, I was just scared of him. The way Ben was scared of Sora when he saw Sora and I at night in the armory. What was wrong with this dream?

I began to think so hard about the dream that I finally woke up. I hadn't been startled awake by the dream, I just woke up.

It must have been six or so, because the sun was still down, but the day had this gray look to it. Like the sun was trying to rise up.

I closed my eyes and thought hard about my dream.

The next thing I knew was that there was a heavy perfume smell wafting from the bathroom. The smell smelled of cherry blossom… it smelled… wonderful… I felt as if I was under an enchantment, to go crazy whenever I smelled that smell.

I bolted up and shouted, "Is Mallory showering?!"

River slowly sat up beside me (since there were only two beds in the girl's room, River and I had to share a bed) and said half asleep, "What?"

I got out of bed and went to the door of the bathroom and pounded, "Mallory get out of the bathroom! Your stupid perfumes are keeping me awake!"

I guess I was still half asleep, because what I was saying didn't make a lot of sense to me.

Mallory opened the door and said, "I finished my shower half an hour ago."

I looked at the door that connected to the main room. "Is Ben showering?" I asked curiously.

River gave us a dazed smiled, "Hey..." she said lazily. "I like the smell of cherry blossom…" She sniffed the air attentively.

I opened the door to the main room and yelled, "Who's using the cherry blossom shampoo?!"

I don't know why it mattered so much to me who was using the shampoo. The smell was making me go crazy. It smelled good, like really good, but why would a _guy_ use cherry blossom shampoo?!

Ben walked out of the guy room and said, "What?"

I said again, "Who is using the cherry blossom shampoo?!"

This time Sora came out and said, "Uh… why do you guys want to know so badly?"

I puffed up and said, "Because it smells nice! I just wanted to know who was using it!"

Ben and Sora gave each other strange looks. "She's half asleep," Sora decided.

I put my hands on my hips and said indignantly, "I am not half asheep!"

Ben raised an eyebrow. "Asheep?"

I opened my mouth to make some cutting remarks, but Sora said, "Whoa, look at the time! We're burning up time! Let's all go eat and go!"

I looked down at my PJs. "I'm not ready to go!"

Ben said critically, "Then get ready! And don't wear anything that embarrasses me!"

I made some muttering noises and did a bit of grumbling, but I got dressed and packed up to move out of this hotel.

"Think my old backpack will still be on the train?" I asked Sora as we all made our way down stairs.

"Possibly," He said absentmindedly.

"If it is, then I'll give all my drachmas to Mr. Vic," I said, pondering on how much drachmas I had left.

The breakfast wasn't near as good as the dinner was. The toast was a little burnt, the eggs a little too runny, and the bacon was a little underdone.

I picked at my oatmeal that was too runny with some kind of liquid. My appetite had left when I smelled the burnt pancakes. Sora didn't seem to mind the burnt pancakes, because he wolfed them down as if this was his last meal.

The only thing that really tasted good was the orange juice. Sora was determined to choose my meal for me, less I should end up managing to get squid for breakfast.

Ben ate the carton of apple juice as well as the cardboard cereal box, and was now eyeing the plastic tongs that were in the toast container.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Asked River, who took a generous amount of honey and spread it thickly over her toast.

I looked back at my oatmeal. "Uh… I'll eat a protean bar later…" I said, trying not to throw up my uncooked eggs and bacon.

Mallory was chomping on an apple when she said, "There isn't going to be time to eat later, Evan."

I looked away from my oatmeal. "What do you mean?"

"We aren't going to have time to eat much later. Eat up now that way you won't feel weak later," Mallory said, swallowing the bite of apple she had been chewing.

I glanced back at my oatmeal. I plunged my spoon into the watery substance and shoved the spoon into my mouth.

The oatmeal gave me indigestion. Of course, I didn't think about eating some ambrosia until I threw up on the way to the train station.

I was angry at everyone. Why did we waste all of our time in Dallas, just to go back up north? Why couldn't we just have gone up north from the beginning? Did I mention that I hate wild goose chases?

"Please…" I panted. "Please don't tell me we're going to have to wait for the stupid train?"

The air was humid and growing rapidly hotter by the minute. It was only nine o'clock in the morning.

"Ten to five minutes," Sora sighed heavily.

We were all hot and sweaty by the time we got to the train station.

Sora led us the way where the express was last time.

A couple people sat on the benches. They were dead people. They sat there with a dull expression on their face. Once again, they looked like humans, but if you stared hard enough at them, they sort of became transparent.

I sat down on a bench, next to an old man with a cane. He was chattering in a quiet whisper, but I couldn't make out any of his words.

I looked at the old man. "Do they know we're here?" I asked.

Sora shook his head and also gazed at the old man. "I don't think so."

Knowing that the ghosts couldn't haunt me, because they couldn't even see me, made me feel a great deal better.

"So…" River said slowly, inching slowly away from the old man.

Then all the sudden, the old man shifted his empty gaze at me and slowly and quietly whispered, "The Ghost King is coming."

I screamed and fell off the bench. I grasped to where my rapier should have been, but couldn't find it. "I left my rapier on the train too?!" I shrieked angrily.

"What's wrong?!" Ben said. He too looked a little nervous.

I pointed a quivering finger at the old man who had resumed looking into space and chatting in a whisper. "He—he spoke!" I shivered.

Sora raised an eyebrow. "What did he say?"

I shuttered and said, "You didn't hear him?!"

Everyone shook their heads. Maybe none of this happened. No. It happened and the ghost spoke to me.

"He said: the Ghost King is coming! Who the heck is the Ghost King?!" I shouted. Being worried and scared made me angry and twitchy.

Sora raised an eyebrow. "I dunno. Maybe Titus is known as the Ghost King."

To take my mind off the Ghost King, I asked Sora, "How did you come across Titus's business card?"

Sora smiled and said, "The hellhound had it. Like it was stuck between its paws. Then the idiot satyr ate the business card." At that he glared accusingly at Ben, who was nervously looking at the ghost.

Before I had time to say anything, the white train of Hermes came zooming in faster than seventy miles per hour. It made a terrible screeching noise and came to a dead stop.

The doors opened and beckoned us to go abroad. The ghosts stood up in unison and walked into the train. I nodded to my friends and we too climbed onto the train.

Mr. Vic greeted us with a start. "What—what are you godlings doing here?!" he asked in a shocked manner.

I grinned a nervous grin and said, "We—"

Sora cut me off and said, "Please, can you take me and my friends to Kenora Canada?"

Mr. Vic's eyes bugged out and he gasped, "Canada?! But! That is way off course!" he looked around and hastily said, "Yes, I can take you to Canada…"

I guess he was still worried that Hermes was watching him or something.

I rummage in the pink backpack and pulled out fifty drachmas. I handed it to him and said, "I know it's not a lot, but please take it."

"Yeah here!" Said Ben cheerfully as he handed Mr. Vic twenty drachmas.

Sora smiled and then rummaged around in his backpack. He handed Mr. Vic ten drachmas. Then River and Mallory chipped in twenty five drachmas each.

"A hundred and thirty drachmas," I said firmly.

Mr. Vic emotionally wiped away a tear and said, "That's enough drachmas to take you to Italy!"

"Oh, Mr. Vic, have you seen a black backpack and a rapier made of celestial bronze?" I asked.

Mr. Vic snapped his finger and darted away. Within about five minutes he returned carrying my rapier and my backpack.

I choked away my tears of joy when he handed me my backpack filled with sane clothes. "Thank you!" I said.

Mr. Vic said, "No problem! Go find a seat!"

We all sat down and remembered to buckle in.

"How long will this last?" River asked, as she looked out the window.

"I would assume ten minutes at the most. Meaning ten hours. Faster than a normal train would go from Dallas to Canada," Sora replied.

"Kenora Canada!" Mr. Vic called through a mega phone.

Then the train started to move. It was slow at first, but began to rapidly gain speed.

On the train ride to Canada, I could barely think. The world outside was moving faster and faster ever second.

Green trees and sky flew by, as the day grew shorter and shorter.

Finally the train screamed to a stop. I jerked forward and felt my breakfast coming up my throat. Within a fraction of a second, Sora pushed my head away from his feet, and I threw up for the second time today.

River helped me get up and get my stuff. I was NOT going to forget my backpack this go round.

The train had stopped in the middle of the woods. Infact, it didn't seem logical that the train could run without tracks.

The doors swung close on us, and the train zoomed onwards.

"Oops, I forgot to tell Mr. Vic that I threw up," I said weakly.

Sora bit his lip and said, "Uh, he'll figure it out soon enough."

I took a good look at my surroundings. The woods were beautiful. The air was clean and fresh, and it was nice and pleasant out here. A bit on the warm side, but I had just been in Texas, so I wasn't going to complain too hard.

"What time is it?" Mallory asked, looking around nervously.

"Seven o' five," Sora said. He sniffed the air. "Smells nice out here."

Ben said happily, "Smells like nature!"

River and Ben began to do a little dance of glee.

"They're nature freaks," Mallory told me.

I sighed and said, "Okay, whatever."

"Let's set up camp here!" River said cheerfully.

Mallory's eyes widened and she screamed, "I am _not_ sleeping on the ground! Spiders! Bugs!"

At the mention of spiders, my blood turned cold. I shuttered. Spiders and children of Athena do not get along well.

"How about you guys go scout around for monsters and we'll set up camp!" Ben said cheerfully.

"Who is 'we'll'?!" Demanded Mallory.

River was already analyzing how the camp would look like. "Ben and I will set up camp. Do you want to stay, or scout for monsters?"

Mallory paled at the thought of monsters. "How about our two non-scented half-bloods go and search for monsters?" She said weakly.

I looked at Sora. He shrugged and said, "C'mon, Evan."

I followed Sora without a word.

We hiked around and didn't find any monsters. But what we did find was that we were lost.

"You idiot!" I snarled at Sora. "You lost us!"

"What do you mean, _I_ lost us?!" He snapped back.

As I got untangled from some vines, I said, "You're the one leading us, so therefore, YOU LOST US, BLOCKHEAD!"

Sora glared at me and said, "I know where I am!"

"Then take us back to the camp!" I demanded savagely.

"We're going back to camp!" He said, irritably kicking a stump. He yelped and grabbed his stubbed foot, yelling a bunch of cuss words.

"I don't remember seeing any of this!" I told him, making exuberant movements with my hand.

"I'm leading us a different way home!" He said, ignoring my hand movements. He savagely cut plants and leaves that were in his way.

"Stop hurting the plants!" I snapped irritably. "What'd they ever do to you?!"

Sora didn't reply, but he kept swinging his blade at the plants.

We marched on in silence. The twittering of birds started to die away, as well as the buzzing of bees.

Everything had this quiet sound.

"This is a short cut," Sora said confidently.

I raised a skeptical eyebrow. Under my breath I murmured a quote from Pippin, "Short cuts make long delays."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Sora," I sighed angrily.

I don't know when it hit me. Maybe when I saw the tree stump that Sora kicked about three times. Or maybe when I saw the same kind of flowers three times. Or maybe the fact that I should have never let Sora take charge. Or maybe it was the fact that I realized we were going in a circle.

"SORA!" I yelled angrily. "WE'VE BEEN GOING IN A _CIRCLE_!"

Sora jumped at the sound of my loud voice.

"How do you know?" He snapped.

"We've passed that tree stump three times!" I pointed to the tree stump that Sora had kicked earlier.

I stomped in front of Sora and said, "That is it. I'm leading us home!"

Sora looked startled at me, but didn't object to me leading the way deeper into the forest.

Twilight was coming in. The woods began to grow darker.

All the sudden, out of nowhere, I saw a building up ahead. "Look!" I said pointing to the building. Maybe we could get help.

Sora studied the sign of the building. "Those letters… they look familiar. Read it to me." He demanded.

I read out loud, "Tire Banderstanch's Morten Wortshop. Hey, that sounds like the business card! Do you think that Tire's Wortshop is really Titus's workshop?"

Sora sighed exuberantly and said, "Yes, Evan, that's his workshop. Let's take a look."

I whined and said in a heavy voice, "Can't we look at it tomorrow? I'm so tired!"

Sora shook his head and walked forward to the building. "We can't. I have a feeling this is a workshop that only turns up when it wants you to see it."

Groaning and muttering nasty things about Sora, I followed him up to the workshop.

The workshop was smaller than it looked from the distance, and it was a little creepy looking. Odd tools hung in the window. A mold of the human body was at the front. The eyes seemed to follow us as we opened the door and walked in.

The inside of the room smelled like a laboratory, with odd smells of chemicals. There was a desk in middle of the room.

The walls were pure white, having this sickly hospital feeling. There were some seats, but I felt a little too nervous to go sit down and relax.

Sora cleared his throat and yelled, "Uh…. Mr. Titus… sir…"

No answer.

The fan was the only sound we could hear.

Then we heard footsteps and out came a hunched back man. "Titus Gunderson's Mortal Workshop, how can I help you?" He said in a business like way.

He had glasses and didn't look very intimidating. He looked a little squirrely and not very confident looking. Titus had dull blue eyes and a sharp nose. He could pull off as almost good looking, with his dark brown hair, but his hunch and the nerdy look made him look like… well… a nerd.

All the sudden, I wondered if this was the right place. What if we had gotten this whole prophecy misunderstood? What if we were now fixing to look like fools? We were betting our hard work and traveling on a tiny little business card. Sounds pretty ridiculous, right?

"We… uh… would like to ask… some questions…" I said slowly.

The man blinked. "About what? Do you need the body repaired? Do you need more injections?" Asked the man dully.

My skin crawled. Injections?! Body repair?!

"I am Sora, son of Hermes and this is—" Started Sora, but I quickly grabbed Sora's arm and grabbed his hear, pulling it down so it was level to my mouth. I whispered quietly, "Don't go around blabbing that you're a half-blood! What if he's a monster?!"

All the sudden the man said, "Oh, Sora!" as if he knew who he was.

Sora stared at the man. "You know who I am?"

The man gave a mischievous smile. "Dear me, yes!"

A hundred questions exploded into my mind. How did he know who Sora was? Who was he?

"I have a bunch of questions I need to ask you!" Sora said nervously.

Titus simply waved his hands aside and said, "Here is no place to treat guests! I'm closing up anyway. Step outside and wait for a couple minutes. And be sure to close your eyes! The glare might sizzle out your eyes!" He laughed a hollow laugh.

He jumped over the counter with surprising ease and pushed Sora and I out of the store. "Wait!" I yelled, digging my heels into the mud.

"No time! No time!" Cackled Titus, as he continued to push us. "Remember to close your eyes!"

Then Titus slammed the door shut, the workshop vanishing.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 I pay a terrible price for the answers I seek

Let's go back to camp, Sora!" I wailed.

I didn't like Titus at all. I didn't like his workshop or anything about the odd smells in the workshop. I wanted to leave and run away as fast as we could.

Sora shook his head. "No! We can't! Not while there is a mystery involved!"

I shouted angrily, "Sora! We're not Sherlock and Watson! We're just children about to get into some trouble! Sora, the others are waiting for us!"

Sora looked at me. "They'll understand. Evan, this is place that we'll get our answers answered. This is the place we were sent to visit. This is the place that will tell us the answer to the mortal problem in camp Half-blood."

I glared daggers into his soul. "Yeah and how do you know that?!" I said, trying to be logical and reasonable.

"I feel it. I just know this has something to do with the mortal problem in camp!" Sora said fiercely.

"Oh, swell! You felt it! Always trust the feeling!" I said sarcastically.

Just then, where the house had been, a blinding light flashed. I covered my eyes and turned away. The heat from the light was warm on my back. Just when I thought that the blinding light might lighten up, the heat grew hotter and hotter.

Sora shoved me to the ground. My nostrils and mouth was filled with dirt as my face whammed into the ground, the air in my lungs left as a heavy weight fell on top of me.

The searing heat and intense light vanished as soon as it came.

"Getoffme!" I spat angrily, as I pushed Sora off of me. I coughed and spat out the dirt that was in my mouth.

"So much for a thank you for saving your life," Sora sighed, rolling his eyes as he got up.

"You didn't save me! All you accomplished was to get dirt into my nose and mouth!" I snarled, while whipping away the dirt off my face.

Sora turned around, so his back was to me. His shirt was sizzling a bit from the heat and his face was grimy with ash. "If I hadn't knocked you over, then you would have been burnt to ashes," He said calmly.

I thought about it. Burnt to ashes or a mouth full of dirt?

Guiltily, I looked away at Sora.

Where the workhouse had been, now was standing a Victorian styled house.

It was a pale gray and the wood looked like it was inhabited by termites.

"And another reason why we shouldn't go into this house… it's creepy looking." I shivered

Sora snorted back, "That's no excuse, Evan. C'mon."

I timidly followed Sora. I still felt guilty for being mean to Sora after he saved my life. "Hey… sorry for sounding ungrateful…" I said slowly.

Sora turned to me. His face looked tired and stress, but even in his tiredness, he gave me a smile. A real smile. Not one of his sparkly evil smiles.

I lowered my head and trudged after Sora.

Sora banged on the door and waited.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I was feeling hungry and exhausted. I felt someone grab my hand and say, "Don't worry, Evan. We won't stay long."

I opened my eyes and gave Sora's hand a tight squeeze.

The door opened and a man popped his head out. He was bald and stocky. "Gunderson Manor, what can I do for you?" He asked in a gruff voice.

I let go of Sora's hand and said, "I believe Mr. Gunderson invited us. I'm Evangeline Smith and this is Sora Fleming."

The man's eyes bugged out and he bowed deeply. "Ah yes! Why didn't you say so in the first place! Master Gunderson is expecting you!"

He held the door wide open for Sora and I to pass through.

Sora went in first and then I followed.

The manor was cold. Unlike outside, inside was cold and has this dusty old feeling. Every breath I took, I felt dust go into my lungs.

The windows let in shafts of light, but the light in here was dark a dull. The house felt a bit like a haunted house.

A dusty staircase led up to a long hall that looked like it wanted to eat people. A big dusty shandaleare hung above us and swung ever so slightly.

The strange odd smell that I had smelled back at the workshop lingered around in the air. What did it smell like? It smelled like iron and salt and chemicals.

The wall paper was peeling off and old photos hung up here and there.

The dumpy man told us to follow him. His voice bounced off in the house. Even our footsteps bounced off everything.

He took us down long corridors and into big rooms. Every room looked the same. The same smell, the same old stuff in the room, the same sad and haunted feeling.

Finally, the butler (I guess I should call him a butler) took us into a room with a huge hearth with a huge roaring fire. It seemed to be the only warmth in this house.

There was a huge table filled with all kinds of delicious kinds of food. Goblets of wine sat on the table and wood chairs were pushed against the polished wood table.

A man sat in a high back arm chair. It was the only fancy furniture in the room, other than the gothic-styled hearth.

The man was hansom and yet very intimidating at the same time. His aquiline nose seemed more eagle-like than ever. His blue eyes shone in the firelight and danced with power and mischief. He had no hunch and no glasses, but I knew instantly who he was.

He was Titus Gunderson.

"Sit," he said quietly. This time, he sounded more than confident. His voice was powerful and strong and scary.

We sat on the opposite side as him.

"Welcome to my manor," he said calmly. A thin smile slid across his mouth.

We said nothing.

"Shy aren't you. Go on… ask your questions," He mused softly. He took a sip from his goblet.

"You changed," I whimpered, trying to sink into my chair.

He smiled and said, "Yes. Thank you for noticing." His voice was almost toneless, and yet, it was full of personality. His voice was warm and rich sounding, but it was cold at the same time.

Sora cleared his throat and said, "Sir… we… want to know what your shop is about? What do you do?"

He laughed his hollow laugh. "What would a child like you want to know about my business?"

Sora swallowed hard and said, "I am interested in what you do. Please tell me."

Titus's cold eyes stared into Sora's eyes. "My job is to find a potion that will make a person immortal."

"You want to be immortal?" I gaped.

Titus shifted his gaze onto me. "Oh no, darling, you've got the wrong idea. You see, capital punishment is the worst punishment ever. You get put to death. Or is it the worst punishment? What if, capital punishment is the exact opposite of death?"

"You'd get a lot of happy criminals looking forward to their capital punishment," Sora said sarcastically.

I was a little surprised that Sora was being sarcastic in front of this man who radiated power.

Titus held his temper and said, "Yes you do. But you'll only be happy for so long. You'll be happy until you realize that you cannot die. People around you will die and you may try to kill yourself, but you will never die. And with this new immortal potion, I will make people age while living forever. They will feel the old age and will feel diseases, but still, they cannot die, even when they have the worst disease, tried to wound themselves in their attempt to kill themselves, when their bones crumble, they will never see death. At any rate, most prisoners who have been on death row are looking forward to being executed. You see, death is the easy way out of prison. But take a man who cannot die, who will stay in prison forever, that's hell."

My mouth felt dry. Being immortal… even if you weren't in prison, being immortal would be hell. Being immortal _was_ the worst capital punishment.

"When we came into your shop, you wanted to know if we needed injections. What's that all about?" Demanded Sora. His face was horrified by the idea of being immortal and depressed and feeling old age, but his voice was clear and calm.

"Oh yes. That. You see, to put it quick, you are a mortal, Sora," Titus said calmly.

Sora laughed and said, "I am no mortal! My father is Hermes. I'm a demigod."

Titus sighed and said, "Sora, you're a mortal. You think you're a demigod is because I injected you with Hermes blood. Why do you think you were able to get into Camp Half-Blood?

About seventeen years ago, I stole about two dozen babies from the orphanage, and then I injected into their tiny bodies, a tablespoon of gods blood. Then I played the stork and gave away free babies to the poor and naïve. People, who really had no way of raising these children, but felt story for the babies and wanted to give them a home. Of course, with the right kind of manipulation, anyone can do anything." At this point, Titus's voice had become savage and power-hungry.

My eyes were wide and I had clapped my hands to my mouth. I whispered, "You preformed scientifically experiment on… _babies_?!"

I felt sick to my stomach. I felt like throwing up. Who performs scientifically experiment on babies?

Titus ignored my horrified comment and continued, "I manipulated the single mothers or fathers that these children were their own babies. I left them with a business card that told them where to send their babies if they didn't want them anymore. Camp Half-blood. I knew, because of god blood running within them that they now possessed very little power, but they could still cause trouble. They could cause enough trouble for the mother or father to not want them anymore. With that, it was off to camp Half-bloods for the children. They couldn't keep the children, or they were tired of their children, or able to see past the manipulation, they realized that the babies weren't their children.

It is said that the god who sees their children in camp, must claim them as soon as they come to camp. Well the reason the mortal children got claimed, was because the idiot god saw their blood within that child and instantly thought, oh that's my child, and I must claim that child. Because the gods always have so many children, they aren't going to pay any attention to the child who's really a mortal. They're just going to see that the children have some of their blood in them."

I found my tongue and stammered, "You said this all started seventeen years ago… the mortal problem in camp has only started just a couple months ago."

Titus sighed and said, "You only just found out that you had a mortal problem a couple months ago. Truth is there have been a handful of mortals in your precious camp for a long time."

"What about the prophecy! How'd Rachel know about the prophecy?" I demanded.

"I made the prophecy up. And then I possessed Rachel's body and told the camp the prophecy. I made it so that you would find my shop," Titus said calmly. His blue eyes were glowing in the dark.

"You were the one that possessed me!" I shrieked.

Titus's eyebrows knitted together and he frowned. "I never possessed you. I only possessed Rachel."

Who had possessed me?

"The reason why I chose you and Sora was because you two both had very weak half-blood scent. The reason Sora's half-blood scent is weak, is because he's a mortal. He has no scent other than the slight scent of a god. As for you, Evangeline, you naturally had a weak scent. The reason no monsters came after you, was because I had to kill them off. I had to bring you here safely," Titus said in his quiet low voice. Here's something that made Titus frightening. He never laughed madly or cackled like an insane bad guy. I was facing my very first evil person, and he happened to be a power hungry cold man, who knew what he was doing.

"That's not true! In Texas we fought and killed off a hellhound!" Sora started.

I was too pale and still feeling sickly to talk much.

Titus turned his gaze onto Sora. "I sent that hellhound to you. If you had never seen it, you would have never seen my business card. I believe I wedged the business card between the dog's fingers on his left paw."

"One last thing! Does the rest of the prophecy mean anything, or did you just put in fancy words?" Sora asked. His face was pale, but his voice really did sound confident.

"I made them up. Fancy words to lead you here," Titus said shortly.

"Sora is not a mortal!" I shouted. It just sort of came out. I half stood up, but my stomach had lurched at the thought of Sora being experimented on when he was a baby, and I had to sit down again.

"Draw your sword, Half-blood. Draw it and cut your friend, if you wish," Titus said, in a dark voice, as if he was hungry to lick the blood that would spill from Sora if I had cut it.

Something about his voice was terrifying. You couldn't disobey him.

I drew my sword and said trying to sound calm, "Sora, don't freak out. I'm only going to cut your hand."

Sora's mouth opened but nothing came out. His eyes were wide with fear, as I lifted my sword. Then suddenly I didn't gently cut his hand, I sliced off his hand. Sora yelped, but the blade went through his hand, without harming it.

He was a mortal.

I felt like I had been hit in the stomach. I collapsed back into the chair, unable to move or breathe.

I realized that I had all the information I needed. I had all my answers answered by this wicked man. Now I was stuck. Should I kill Titus or should I leave him to harm other innocent babies? I remember reading in all the books how the hero courageously killed the bad guy, by using all the power of the person against him. But I wasn't a hero. I was a homesick child who was scared and confused.

"One last thing…" Titus said quietly. His mouth curved into a smile. "All the babies were copies of actual half-bloods."

"That doesn't make sense… that's not logical because if you stole them from the orphanage—" Titus put a finger to his lips and my weak voice died down.

"I made copies of actual half-blood babies seventeen years ago. The babies in the orphanage where the copies, but they were fully mortal. Each baby that had been injected has a twin brother or sister who is an actual half-blood," Titus said simply.

It still did not make sense. How could he have made copies of half-blood babies and then sent them to an orphanage and then steal the babies? That made _no_ logic whatsoever. Some bit of important information lacked in this conversation.

"That isn't logical, what do you mean by all this?" I demanded.

Titus smiled a cunning evil smile. "That is none of your business, madam."

I was stricken by the answer. He had been answer perfectly fine up until now.

"Okay… well then, when did you start injecting the babies with god's blood?" I asked. If I could get more answer, then maybe I could start piecing together evidence and figure out what was going on.

"December fifteenth to be exact," Titus murmured.

"Well then if—" I started, staring to feel more confident.

"That is enough questions," Titus said quietly.

I closed my mouth.

"Run, half-bloods. Run," Titus said so quietly, I could barely understand what he said.

"What?" I said weakly.

"I'm sending my hellhounds after you to tear your bodies apart and drink your blood. The moment you leave this manor, I'll give you one minute to get a head start. Get up now," He commanded.

I robotically stood up, grabbing Sora's shirt and pulling him upwards with me. He still seemed mesmerized the fact that he was a mortal.

I started getting a sick feeling. My dream about the hellhounds chasing us flashed in my mind.

Out of nowhere, Titus picked up a gun and pointed it at the ceiling. "On my mark… go on, face the door," Titus said, in a hurried annoyed voice.

We faced the door. The door was water stained and was crumbling.

Titus whistled a peering whistle, and out of nowhere, a bunch of hellhounds came at his side.

Big huge wolfish hounds stared at us with hungry eyes. Titus glared at me and I quickly turned to face the door.

"Open the door…" Titus said simply, as if he was giving instructions to a small babe.

I raised a shaky hand and opened the door open.

I glanced at Sora. His face was expressionless. I didn't know what was running through his mind, but I knew it couldn't be good.

"One… two… three…"

There was a loud bang of gunfire and I screamed.

Sora fell to the ground.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 the Ghost King

I collapsed from the loud sound and to see if Sora's wound was as bad as I thought it was.

Blood trickled from Sora's mouth as blood began to pour from his neck. His eyes were misty and unfocused.

I couldn't find any words to say. I felt like throwing up.

I cradled Sora's head in my arms, ignoring the blood that was seeping through my shirt. "Sora!" I screamed. Tears were rushing down my face. "Don't die on me!"

I wiped away the blood on Sora's mouth. "Evan…" He whispered.

My uncontrolled tears splashed on Sora's shocked face. Snot was running down my nose and getting into my mouth.

"I… I don't understand and… and I'm so cold…" He whimpered.

He coughed, blood coming from his mouth. His body was trembling and his eyes became more and more unfocused.

"Sora, don't die on me! Please don't die!" I shriek, my own body trembling hard.

His body ceased trembling and his eyes lost focused.

I ran my fingers through his hair while screaming and sobbing. Stroking his hair, I smelled the smelled the scent of cherry blossom shampoo. So he was the one who used the cherry blossom shampoo. Why the heck would he have cherry blossom shampoo?

I remembered all the fights I had with Sora. Why couldn't I have been nicer to him?

I began rocking back and forth, breathing fast. I was breathing so fast, my body tingled and my vision became fuzzy.

Sora was gone from me. And I never go to tell him I sort of quark sized liked him.

"Start running…" Said a cold evil voice.

I looked up and saw Titus holding a gun, his face expressionless. His hellhounds became more anxious to start chasing me.

I was frightened.

I stood up slowly, only to throw up and collapse back down to earth. I got up a second time. I tried to pick up Sora's body.

I wasn't going to let the hounds drink his blood for dinner.

I finally got him onto my back. My back was hunched over so low, that way Sora's body could rest on my back. It was like I was giving him a piggy back ride.

I could feel warm blood trickle down my own neck.

I began to run for my life.

I burst out of the manor and staggered my way into the woods. I was sobbing harder than ever and my view was misty.

I remembered this scene from my dream.

My back felt like it was going to break under the weight of Sora. For such a skinny guy, he really was heavy.

I stumbled aimlessly around.

The manor had vanished again and I was left alone with Sora's dead body.

I tripped and fell a couple times, each time my face got impacted into the dirt. I had no time to brush away the dirt from my face.

The blood from my neck slowly made its way down my side.

The smell of the blood made me nauseous. This was no time to throw up. I had to get back to camp.

"Help!" I screamed, not knowing who would come. My voice hurt from the screaming, but I continued to scream at the top of my lungs.

The dirt began to mix with the blood and the unpleasant smell of dirt and blood started to rise.

I felt like I had been running around for ten minutes, when dogs started to bark and howl.

I was being pursued.

I started to try and run faster. I slipped twice as much and fell twice as much.

I ran into a couple trees on accident and stubbed my toe on the stump that Sora had stubbed his toe on.

My body started to tremble under the weight of Sora's body.

I finally leaned over and threw up again. The smell had made me so nauseous that I couldn't tell where I was going.

The dogs were picking up my scent, because their baying became louder and louder.

I knew my final moments were coming soon.

Not to my surprise, a huge black dog leaped in front of me.

I knew what was coming.

The dog leaped at me and sunk its huge canines into my head.

I blacked out.

I woke up to see River standing over me.

Was this all a dream? Was Sora still alive?

"Sora," I croaked.

River's face was sad and I could tell she had been crying hard.

I sat up. My head throbbed and I winced.

I began to cry again. There was nothing to do but cry.

River collapsed down next to me and began to cry also.

I looked around. Ben was sitting farther away from us, his head bowed into his hands.

There was a body covered with a blanket next to the fire.

I cried harder.

Mallory was sitting to the side, with a shocked expression on her face.

"Tell us everything…" Mallory whispered quietly.

I told them everything. Everything.

Mallory also began to cry.

For how long we cried, I do not know. My eyes grew big and swollen as my voice grew hoarser and hoarser.

"The prophecy was made up! I can't believe it!" Wailed Mallory.

Then an idea came to me.

"Wait minute…" I whispered quietly. I started to quote from the prophecy. "Make a sacrifice, make a choice, change the time, hurry before the bell strikes midnight. Some are born to the sun and some are born to endless night." I said slowly.

"So?! That's all satyr poop!" Screamed River angrily.

"What if it's not?" I said weakly, my mind working hard and furiously.

Ben came over to us. His eyes were red and bloodshot. He had a big bruise on his cheek and his shirt was dirty and ripped up. "What do you mean, Evan?" he choked.

"I mean…" I started slowly. "We've followed this prophecy for a while. Sora and I went up north. We fought a lot. We made a sacrifice. What if… what if we carry this prophecy to the end?"

"You want… you want to change time?! How do you do that?" River demanded.

I thought about what Titus did. What he didn't tell us. What was so utterly confusing and illogical. We needed to figure out what was going on.

"Shadow traveling…" I said.

"That's exactly what I was going to suggest," said a voice.

We all jumped and raised our swords.

A boy of the age maybe thirteen or fourteen came out of the shadows. He was tired looking and pale. He had jet black hair and dark shadows under his pale blue eyes. He was wearing an aviator jacket in the middle of this heat. He looked much, much older than fourteen. He looked like an eighteen year old with a sad story and background. Right beside him was a hellhound. He had a skull ring on his pale hand and he was frowning a scary frown. I would have called him good looking, but he seemed a little too creepy looking to be spot on dashingly handsomely princely handsome.

"Put your swords down. And whatever you do, don't do any harm Mrs. O'Leary," He said in a quiet voice.

We didn't put our swords down.

The boy rolled his eyes and sighed. "I am the Ghost King." He said. "Nico di Angelo. Son of Hades."


End file.
